Soul Mates
by xjazzhandsx
Summary: AU. When they reach the age of ten all children are visited by The Matchmaker. The Matchmaker takes the child's hand, looks deep into their eyes, and tells them a name...
1. Chapter 1

When they reach the age of ten all children are visited by The Matchmaker.

The Matchmaker takes the child's hand, looks deep into their eyes, and tells them a name.

One name.

The name of the one person who will love them above all others; the person whom they will live their lives with; the person they will marry and have children with; the person with whom they will buy a beautiful house, with a white picket-fence, and a people carrier so that they can drive the children to soccer games and dance recitals; the person that they will grow old with, who will care for them when they can no longer care for themselves; the person who will cry at their funeral, because they have no purpose in life higher than to love that one other person.

All of this, an entire future laid out, at ten years old.

* * *

><p>On Kurt Hummel's tenth birthday, after all of the guests have gone home, and it is only himself and his father left, The Matchmaker arrives. She takes her seat on the old beaten-up couch in their living room and Kurt politely sits next to her. He knows why she is here, he has been told about this his whole life, he has been looking forward to it for years, to be able to know, right now, who he is meant to be with, who will love him forever and ever. To Kurt this is the most romantic thing ever. He can't even imagine what it must have been like before The Matchmakers, to have to live your life not knowing who you were going to be with, having to guess and try and fail to find your one true love with no clues at all about who it might be.<p>

The Matchmaker smiles down at Kurt and holds out her hand. Kurt eagerly places his small hand in her much larger one and blinks up at her as she envelops that small hand with her wrinkled old fingers. She has a kind face, he notices, and he is glad that it was her who came to see him and not the other Matchmaker in the town, the scary old man. She looks down at him now and Kurt is transfixed by her pale eyes; looking almost lilac in the dark light of their living room.

Burt leans forward in his dusty old armchair, praying silently that she will say something, anything, any name at all, he doesn't care what it is just so long as it's a name. He has never met anyone yet who was not given a name, but he's heard stories, and he doesn't want that for his son. It's bad enough having to live the remainder of his years alone with his wife already gone, knowing that there will be no one else. At least he had a few good years with her. He'll always have the memories and the beautiful little boy in front of him. He can't even imagine what it might be like to live your whole life knowing that you will never have anyone at all.

Kurt's heart begins to beat a little faster as The Matchmaker looks at him. It feels almost as though she is looking straight into his soul and he's not sure that he likes that. He thinks he might throw up but it's probably just because he ate too much cake. On the other hand he can't shake the feeling that soon, very soon, he will know. He will know the name of the person that he is meant to be with and then he can finally get started on his real life, trying to find them. There is a brief moment, that lasts only a second, when he suddenly wonders if he really does want to know after all, but then it's too late to take his hand back even if he had wanted to because The Matchmaker opens her parched old lips and speaks at last.

"Tobias Green."

* * *

><p>Blaine Anderson does not want to meet The Matchmaker. He has never wanted to meet The Matchmaker. He happens to think that the entire thing is a really stupid idea. Why would you actually want to know the name of the person you're going to marry? Surely that takes the fun out of everything? He wonders this again and again as he crouches in his hiding place in the garden. It is his tenth birthday and The Matchmaker is due to arrive any minute. He has not been allowed to have friends over today. He had to have his birthday party the day before because his parents have insisted that his tenth birthday is special and must be a family day. They have invited everyone to come and watch Blaine's meeting with The Matchmaker, even his stupid cousin Timothy who he sort of hates since he told on Blaine to his dad when he found him playing dress up with Natalie from next door last summer.<p>

"Blaine!" He crouches down further to avoid his mother's gaze. "Blaine come on now darling, don't be so silly! The Matchmaker is here and it's incredibly rude to keep her waiting." Blaine holds his breath, not wanting to give her any sort of clue as to where he is. A few moments later however he is blinded by the sunlight as his mother pushes aside the branches above him to reveal Blaine squatting in the dirt in the middle of a hollowed-out bush at the bottom of their garden. "Come on Blaine," she smiles down at him fondly, "You're ten now, you have to be a big boy and come and meet The Matchmaker, just like everybody else."

"I don't want to." Blaine frowns up at her, "Knowing now would be no fun, I'm only ten, I don't need to know yet, tell them to go away."

Blaine's mother sighs and reaches out her hand to help her son stand up. "I know you think you don't want to know, but I didn't think I wanted to either." Blaine stands up and climbs out of the bush reluctantly, "I thought I wanted it to be a surprise like it used to be in old movies." Blaine's mother explains as she leads her son back towards the house. "But my mother made me see The Matchmaker, just like I'm making you, and when she told me your father's name I knew, I knew that I was wrong." She turns to look at her son and lays her hand on his chin, tilting his little face so that he is looking up at her. "It's a different kind of magic," she promises him, "But it's just as beautiful as the old movies."

Blaine sighs. "OK, I'll see The Matchmaker."

"There's a good boy."

"I still don't want to though."

Blaine's mother laughs. "I know."

The Matchmaker is sitting in the largest, most comfortable armchair in front of the television, where Blaine's dad sits when they watch football together.

"Take your time," Blaine's dad jokes, but it's one of those weird jokes that Blaine doesn't like very much because he's never quite sure if he should laugh or not.

Blaine shuffles towards the kindly old woman and she smiles down at him, holding out her hand. He looks at it reluctantly, and then back at her. She nods at her outstretched hand and there's a twinkle in her lilac eyes that somehow makes him trust her. Blaine lays his hand in hers and looks up at the old woman, his stomach doing these weird little flips that make him want to be sick. He silently prays that she won't say anything, that she will take her hand away and shrug and tell them all that Blaine Anderson has no soul mate and then leave his house and never come back. He would prefer that, he thinks. Plus it would probably be really funny to see the look on his dad's face.

But, of course, The Matchmaker does tell him the name. However it is not a name that anyone is expecting, and the look on Blaine's dad's face is not at all funny.

"Richard Matheson."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) Recently, there has been an accusation on this fic of plagiarism from the fic "but with a whimper" by of-a-crescendo, which can be found on livejournal. It can be concluded that any similarities (accidental or not) were not written with a mindset that is cruel, vicious or malicious in any way, shape or form. However, it has been left up to the reader to decide the level of coincidence and whether there is an apparent influence or not.**


	2. Chapter 2

It is almost thirteen years later that Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson meet, in an old bookstore in a city very different from the towns they grew up in.

Tobias Green and Richard Matheson have yet to make their appearances in either man's life and while Blaine has taken this as a blessing, Kurt is less than pleased.

For Blaine this has meant that he has been able to live his life thus far free from the pressure of his 'soul mate'. He hates that term and only uses it with a distinct tone of sarcasm lest anyone should mistakenly think that he believes in that nonsense. He has been trying to forget Richard's name for as long as he has known it, and he almost manages to sometimes, but he will never be able to forget the look on his father's face when The Matchmaker spoke those two words; the sound of his father's voice as he exclaimed that she must be wrong, look again, try again, because there was no way that any son of his had been given the name of another male. No way at all.

Sometimes Blaine manages to forget Richard completely, there are entire weeks where he cannot, no matter how hard he tries, remember Richard's surname at all, but then, always when his mind is vacant, before he is going to bed or when he is standing in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee to brew, it pops up again, clear as day, unavoidable, fated.

Kurt, on the other hand, has never once tried to forget Tobias Green's name. It feels as though he has had that name imprinted into his very blood, he can feel it as it pulses through his veins; hear it in the beating of his heart. Tobias Green was the only thing that kept him going through high school, with the hateful bullies and cowardly teachers. Throughout all of that Kurt kept his head high, knowing that one day he would find Tobias and everything would be perfect, as it should be. Kurt moved to the city for college and stayed there after finishing in the hopes that it would increase his chances of finding Tobias that little bit earlier. Bigger place, more people, more chances that Tobias will appear and save him at last.

Kurt lives for the day that he will meet Tobias Green because he knows that when he does, everything will be OK. He has been waiting for Tobias his entire life and he knows that Tobias has been waiting for him too. Tobias Green has been scribbled in the back of every textbook he has ever owned; he whispers it to himself every night before he goes to sleep and every morning when he wakes up.

Kurt's entire life has been dedicated to finding Tobias Green. Blaine's entire life has been dedicated to avoiding Richard Matheson. It is a great coincidence that causes their paths to cross one sunny afternoon in the bookshop where Kurt works. Well, one of them would call it a coincidence. The other would call it fate.

Neither of them has any reason to be in the bookstore on this particular day. Kurt does not usually work Fridays; he's taking this shift as a favour to a friend. Quite simply, Blaine does not need any books; he is looking for nothing other than a place to waste time.

Kurt notices Blaine straight away, as soon as he enters the door. He finds himself almost shocked by the beauty of this stranger, blown away by his beautiful dark hair and the way that it curls just so, fighting against the gel holding it in place and very nearly winning, and his dazzling eyes that sparkle even from the other side of the store. Kurt finds himself whispering the same chant he has been whispering since he was ten years old.

"Please be Tobias, please be Tobias, please be Tobias, please be-"

"Kurt, can you grab me all the copies of Norman Fitzpatrick's autobiography from the shelf please?" Kurt glares at his boss, as though her interruption alone has made almost certain that this beautiful man will not be Tobias Green. Of course he knows in the back of his mind that this will not be Tobias Green anyway, he has been waiting too long for Tobias to simply walk in to the bookstore on a day when he shouldn't even be working, but even so, there will always be a part of him, in the back of his mind, that can't help but hope every time he sees an attractive man like Blaine that maybe this time, maybe this one, maybe it's finally Tobias. Of course, it never is.

Blaine immediately gravitates to the art books. He needs to be distracted and art books are the only safe bet, nothing but pretty pictures, nothing at all about stupid soul mates.

He's looking at a particularly beautiful photography book when Kurt quite literally bumps in to him, spilling multiple copies of Norman Fitzpatrick's autobiography all across the floor.

"Shit," Kurt mutters as he quickly grabs and rebalances the books still in his hands, preventing any more from falling. By the time he has laid these books on a nearby shelf and crouched down to retrieve the others, Blaine has already collected half of them into a small pile on the floor.

"Sorry," Kurt apologises as he gathers the remaining books.

"It's OK." Blaine smiles at him and Kurt's breath hitches in his throat for a moment. Then he remembers where he is and he quickly resumes stacking the books back into one pile. As soon as he is done with this Blaine cuts the pile in half and grabs one stack of books, leaving the other on the floor with a bewildered Kurt.

"Um-"

"I'll help you carry them." Blaine shifts his pile of books so that he's holding them against his side and offers his free hand to Kurt.

Kurt blinks at his hand for a moment before taking it, grabbing his own pile of books from the floor as Blaine helps him stand. "Thanks."

"No problem." Blaine smiles at him again and Kurt can't help but begin his silent chant once more. _Please be Tobias, please be Tobias-_

He leads Blaine over to the desk where his boss is sat with a calculator in one hand and a pile of promotional stickers in the other.

"All the Norman Fitzpatricks," Kurt says as he and Blaine both deposit their large piles of hardbacks side by side on the desk in front of her.

She looks up at the two piles of books and then at Kurt and finally her gaze rests on Blaine who is still standing next to Kurt, still smiling.

"Do you work here?" She asks.

"No." Blaine shrugs.

The two look at each other for a few moments, she trying to figure out who he is and he simply glad to be talking to another human being.

"I tripped and dropped the books and he helped me bring them over," Kurt explains, finally having enough of the strange silence between them all.

"Oh." This seems to be an acceptable explanation as she drops her gaze back to the calculator before continuing, "Well these are going on twenty per cent off, so could you mark them up please, the stickers are in the top drawer of my desk."

Blaine immediately grabs his pile of books again.

"Oh I don't know if-" Kurt begins.

"It's fine." His boss glances up at him, "Wouldn't want to risk you dropping them all again."

Kurt grabs his stack of books from the counter. "This way," he says to Blaine, decidedly ignoring his boss's comment. "You really don't have to do this." He adds as he leads Blaine towards the back of the store and to his boss's office.

"It's OK, I don't have anything else to do with my time," Blaine smiles at him again and it is so distracting that Kurt finds himself having to look away before he trips again. "I'm Blaine by the way."

"Of course you are." Kurt mutters under his breath. Of course you're Blaine. Of course you're not Tobias.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing. Sorry. I'm Kurt." He pushes open the door to the office and holds it for Blaine to walk in, "I would shake your hand but-"

"We don't want the books to take another tumble." Blaine finishes, putting his stack of books on the edge of the desk.

"Exactly." Kurt puts his pile of books on top of the others and moves round to the other side of the desk. When he's managed to find the small stack of yellow stickers amongst the mess of the desk drawer he looks up to find Blaine sat in the chair on the other side of the desk, flicking through one of the autobiographies.

"This guy really is spectacularly boring," he seems to say to himself more than Kurt. "No wonder the book's going on sale." He tosses the book back onto the desk and smiles up at Kurt again. "Need a hand with those?"

Kurt is aware that he is staring but there really isn't much he can do about it. He's never really been great at hiding when he's attracted to someone, which has definitely caused him problems before, and he is fairly certain that Blaine is the most attractive man he has ever seen in his life. So yeah, he's kind of staring. Although it's not just that, it's more that he can't quite understand why he's still here, offering to help him sticker these books.

"It's OK, you really don't have to. You must have something better to be doing with your time."

Blaine looks up at Kurt and his smile is replaced momentarily by something new, almost sadness, flashing across that beautiful face, and then suddenly it's gone just as quickly as it appeared.

"I really, really don't."

* * *

><p>Blaine spends the entire day at the bookstore, helping to change price stickers and restack books and even making everyone coffee, the other members of the staff look at him strangely but he's used to that and their boss just seems faintly amused by him as he hands her a latte in the middle of the afternoon.<p>

"You're still here?" She asks, taking the cup from him.

"Nowhere else to go." He shrugs.

"So how do you know Kurt?"

"I don't."

That confuses her a little more but she's already so confused by this strange boy that she simply carries on drinking her coffee.

Blaine is very used to people being confused by him. It's something he has had to get used to over the years, being different, seeing the world differently to everyone else; not living his life to find his soul mate, doing the opposite in fact. Blaine is determined that he will not end up with Richard Matheson, he will build a relationship himself, the proper way, rather than be forced into one by some ridiculous rule that he doesn't understand. The only problem is that no one else feels this way, no one else will build a relationship with him, and so Blaine is reduced to second place. He is the fling to get the rebellion out of your system before your real life begins, the awkward in between stage. Blaine is practice for real life. That is the real reason why he is spending the day in this bookstore with someone he has never met before. Because last night he was practice for someone else's real life, again, and this morning they went back to their real life and he wandered into a bookstore, where he found Kurt. Kurt who had a beautiful, kind face and who laughed at his stupid jokes and who was obviously incredibly shy but at the same time knew how to handle himself.

Blaine was falling again, he always fell fast and he hated himself for it. He only had to look at Kurt to know that Kurt was another one, another one who believed that his life would be fixed by finding his soul mate, and for all Blaine knew, maybe it would be, but that didn't mean that Blaine couldn't have him until then. Because that is what Blaine does. He keeps the seat warm until the real deal arrives and then he steps aside and moves onto the next. Just hoping that maybe one day one of them will stay, maybe one day one of them will choose him instead. Deep inside though he knows that it will never happen, and even deeper inside he knows that he will end up with Richard Matheson, because he has no choice, because it is that or continue to live his life being heartbroken again and again.

That doesn't stop him from trying though.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt does not particularly want to go out to dinner with Blaine that first day because it feels suspiciously like a date, which would be entirely pointless. He agrees to go however because Blaine has just spent the entire day doing half of his work for him and there's just something about this strange man that Kurt can't quite put his finger on, but he knows that he likes it and he likes being around Blaine, so he agrees to go to dinner with him.

Blaine can hardly believe it when Kurt actually says yes to going out to dinner. He knows that he shouldn't have even asked, especially since he still has to figure out a way of getting his watch back from Jake's apartment without actually seeing Jake, but Kurt is just so beautiful and so shy that Blaine just wants to spend a little more time with him and really is there anything wrong with that? He knows that he's doing it again but so what, so what if he is chasing another pipe dream, another chance to be second best? Maybe, he thinks as the waitress brings them their food, this time will be different; maybe Kurt will finally be the one that doesn't only want him for practice. Of course this was what he thought last time too.

They both worry that conversation will be difficult, Blaine because he's still feeling that desperate need to be distracted from what happened with Jake and Kurt because he has never been on a date before. He's never felt the need to, what would be the point when he knows that it cannot go anywhere anyway, and besides no one has ever asked before. They needn't worry though because there is barely a pause all evening except for when they're too busy eating to talk. Blaine makes awful jokes that Kurt finds funny anyway and Kurt makes snide comments that would normally be offensive, but he accompanies them with this smile that Blaine soon learns to realise means that he isn't being entirely serious. They spend the entire dinner laughing and talking and thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Blaine cannot even remember the last time he laughed this much and neither can Kurt if he is truly honest with himself.

It feels as though they've known each other forever and for those few short hours Blaine almost seems to forget everything that he has ever worried about. That is, until Kurt brings it up.

"So, why exactly did you decide to spend the day in a bookstore with a total stranger?"

For the first time all evening there is an awkward silence as Blaine tries to decide whether to tell Kurt the truth or not.

"I needed a distraction."

"What from?"

"Life, mostly."

Kurt smiles sadly, "I can understand that."

And for the first time all day, Blaine looks at him, really looks at him, and his heart sort of aches because he is so sure that Kurt is being sincere, and that he really can understand wanting to escape from everything. He sees all his own fears reflected back at him in Kurt's eyes, but different some how, and suddenly he wants nothing more than to reach across the table and take Kurt's hand and promise him that everything will be all right. But he can't do that. He barely knows Kurt and he doesn't know what he's been through or where his fears come from or how they're different to Blaine's at all. All he knows is that Kurt is the most beautiful man he has ever seen and the sadness in his eyes is heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry." Blaine sits back in his chair, crossing his arms in order to keep his hands from reaching out to Kurt, "I've basically attached myself to you today and we've never even met before."

"Oh no, it's OK," Kurt assures him quickly, "It's nice to have the company."

And he really means it. Kurt can't remember the last time that someone, even his best friends, spent the entire day with him. Even Finn, his own brother, is always busy with Rachel and the baby whenever he comes to visit, and he knows that it's not their fault but he just can't help but feel so unbearably lonely sometimes. He knows that one day he'll meet Tobias and everything will be fine, he's been telling himself that his whole life, but he doesn't know when that will be and until then everything just sort of sucks.

So yeah, he really does mean it when he tells Blaine that it's nice to have the company, and he really is glad that he went to dinner, and there's something about the look in Blaine's eyes and the way that his voice changed when Kurt asked what he needed to be distracted from that tells Kurt that Blaine is pretty glad of the company too. He just hopes that Blaine doesn't want anything more, because there's another look in Blaine's eye that Kurt has seen before, and it terrifies him… because his stomach sort of flips upon recognising it.

There's another silence but neither of them would describe it as uncomfortable. Blaine smiles softly and before Kurt even knows what he is doing he is smiling in return. He doesn't even have to think about it, it just sort of happens, naturally.

"So, Kurt." It is Blaine that breaks the silence first, but it doesn't feel that way, there is none of the tension that usually accompanies such an act, as he reaches for his glass of wine. "I just realised we've been talking all day and I haven't even asked you where you're from."

"Ohio," Kurt replies, "Lima."

Blaine's eyes widen and his mouth falls open a little in shock. "No way." Kurt shrugs, unsure of what to say. "I'm from Westerville," Blaine explains excitedly.

"Huh," Kurt grins, "small world."

"Totally. I can't believe-" Blaine stops mid sentence and his smile only widens. "Wait. This is probably going to sound really strange but, were you in glee club in high school?"

And suddenly Kurt recognises him, and all at once he knows just why it is that they've been able to talk like this all day, as if they've known each other forever, because they've met twice before.

"Yes. I was at McKinley, you were at Dalton." Kurt practically bounces with excitement as he makes the realisation and it's so adorable that Blaine can do nothing but laugh. "We competed against each other at sectionals and regionals in junior year."

"And you snuck in on one of our practices." Blaine grins and Kurt's face immediately flushes pink with embarrassment.

Make that three times before.

"Oh my gosh," Kurt buries his face in his hands, and Blaine laughs again, "I totally forgot about that."

It seems so long ago that Kurt snuck into that school, but he definitely remembers it now, how beautiful it all was and how safe it all looked. The Warblers were so popular there; entirely the opposite of how New Directions had been seen at his own school. He remembers trying to blend in with their uniforms, unsuccessfully, watching them sing a song that he can't remember now, and then sneaking back out again before any of them had a chance to talk to him.

"I almost transferred to Dalton you know," Kurt says, raising his head from his hands to look at Blaine again now that he knows who he is, "my parents wanted me to at least."

"Really?" Kurt nods. "Why didn't you?"

"They couldn't really afford it and I didn't want to leave my friends," Kurt answers immediately, it's a sort of half-lie that he perfected long ago and hasn't had to repeat for years. He is almost shocked at how easily he still tells it. "They only wanted me to go because there were some… well some not very nice people, at McKinley and Dalton was the only other option."

"You were bullied." It isn't a question, it doesn't need to be, Blaine was bullied himself at the school he attended before Dalton and he recognises Kurt's tone of voice all too well. It's brave, sure, but it's all a show, and Blaine sees right through it.

Kurt nods. It's been a long time since he's spoken about this and it brings back all those horrible feelings that he hasn't felt in such a long time.

"Yes," he says, plastering on a smile that Blaine doesn't believe for one second. "But running away never solved anything."

Blaine flinches at these words and Kurt registers it immediately. Things become a little clearer all of a sudden as Blaine's face betrays his unease. Then something happens which neither of them expected, and it is Kurt who reaches out to take hold of Blaine's hand.

* * *

><p>"You know, you really don't have to walk me back," Kurt repeats for what must be at least the third time, as they near his street. The truth of the matter is that now that Kurt knows that Blaine went to Dalton he is acutely aware of the fact that Blaine has probably never even been to this part of the city before, where the apartments are as small as they are cheap. He is almost certain that Blaine probably lives in one of those beautiful, modern, high-rise apartment buildings by the sea on the other side of the city, completely the opposite to his own tiny apartment on the second floor of an old converted three-story house.<p>

"Well it's the least I can do." Blaine shrugs. He can sense that Kurt is uneasy but he's really not sure why. If anyone should feel uneasy around here it's him, he's been to this neighbourhood far too many times and always in situations that he would rather Kurt not know about at this stage in their friendship.

"You paid for dinner." Kurt reminds him. Blaine shrugs again. "And you spent the entire day doing half of my work."

"Look," Blaine laughs a little, "You kept me distracted, which probably stopped me from doing something very stupid, so the least I can do is buy you dinner and make sure you get back to your apartment safely."

Kurt gives him this look that is clearly supposed to tell him that Kurt thinks this entire thing is bull, but Blaine feels as though he's used to Kurt's 'looks' enough by now that he can safely grin back at him and he's relieved when Kurt laughs in return.

"I've walked home on my own many times before," Kurt assures him.

"Yes but," and the next words fall out of his mouth before he can help himself, "I got to spend a little more time with you."

"Oh." The smile immediately falls from Kurt's face and they both stop walking. "Listen, Blaine I-"

"No, Kurt, stop." Blaine interrupts, mentally kicking himself for even saying anything, "I know what you're going to say. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I've made you uncomfortable-"

"Blaine really it's-"

"I should go, I'm sorry, you can get back OK from here right?"

"Blaine, really I-"

"I'll just uh, I'll go, I'll see you around, I guess-"

"Blaine!" Kurt grabs hold of both of Blaine's hands and Blaine stops mid sentence to find that Kurt is actually smiling at him, looking faintly amused at the whole thing. "Shut up."

"Oh I-" Kurt flashes him another look and Blaine immediately snaps his mouth closed.

"You haven't made me uncomfortable," Kurt explains, still holding onto Blaine's hands, "Believe it or not men have actually been attracted to me before." Blaine opens his mouth to assure Kurt that he most definitely believes him but Kurt widens his eyes ever so slightly and Blaine closes his mouth again without saying a word. "Why do I get the feeling that you're not exactly used to talking to people?" Kurt asks, not unkindly.

Blaine snorts quietly as Kurt lets go of his hands. "You have no idea," he replies, his voice betraying a strange mixture of both bitterness and amusement that, against his better judgement, Kurt finds endlessly intriguing.

"Blaine, you're a really nice guy-"

"But I'm not your soul mate," Blaine finishes, looking down at his shoes. The bitterness is still there, in his voice, but the amusement has been replaced by something else entirely. Defeat.

"I'm sorry," Kurt says, and he really, truly means it because there is such a small part of him that wishes that Blaine was his soul mate because that would just make everything so much easier. But Blaine is not Tobias Green, and that's all there is to it.

There's that sincerity in Kurt's voice again and it's almost painful to Blaine's ears, it's been so long since anyone has spoken to him like this. Which is probably why Blaine then looks up at Kurt and says, "You have no idea how many times I've heard that."

Kurt knows immediately that Blaine is not talking about his 'I'm sorry'.

Blaine is terrified that Kurt will pity him but as he looks into the other man's eyes he sees nothing there but caring and understanding. It makes his heart ache.

"Come on," Kurt says, looping his arm through the crook of Blaine's elbow, "Walk me the rest of the way home."

* * *

><p><strong>So, I don't usually do author's notes but I would just really like to say thank you to all of you for your just wonderful reviews, I wish I could thank each and every one of you personally but unfortunately fanfiction dot net isn't letting me reply to reviews, so yes, I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you because your reviews really do make my day. :)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next two weeks Blaine spends every day at the bookstore. Kurt does not find out until the second week that Blaine even spends his days there when Kurt is not working. It surprises Kurt when he realises that this disappoints him a little. He had thought that Blaine was spending so much time there because he wanted to spend time with Kurt, not because he wanted to spend time at the bookstore, and the realisation that Blaine is using the bookstore itself, not just Kurt, to distract himself makes Kurt far more uneasy than it should do. He should not want Blaine to be depending on him for anything. That doesn't stop him from wanting it though.

It is nearly closing time on the Friday of the second week when Kurt's boss, Miranda, asks Blaine if he wants a job as he deposits her coffee in front of her on the desk. Blaine has become very familiar with the coffee orders of Miranda and all six of the other employees in the past two weeks.

"No thank you," he replies, smiling at her. He hands Kurt his coffee order and leaves to go and find Janice, one of the stores other employees.

"I don't understand him," Miranda says to Kurt as they watch Blaine practically skip to the back of the store.

"Neither do I really," Kurt says, "I just know that he's lonely."

"You should take him out on a date."

Kurt has to try very hard not to spit his mouthful of coffee all over the desk at this point.

"Why?" he finally manages to ask.

"Because he's a nice kid," Miranda shrugs like this is obvious, "and he's damn cute and he obviously likes you."

"But he's not-"

"I know, hon." Miranda lays her hand over Kurt's on the table in a gesture that is, uncharacteristically, almost maternal, "but there's no reason why you can't just go on a couple of dates with the boy."

"But I-"

"Kurt. Everyone ends up with their soul mate in the end, but that doesn't mean you can't see anyone else before then. It doesn't mean you should just lock yourself away and wait like some Victorian maiden."

"Maybe I want to," Kurt argued.

Miranda sighed. "Well that's your choice, but you know I had plenty of boyfriends before I met Peter and he had a couple of girlfriends before me. That's the beauty of having a soul mate Kurt, you never have to get serious with anyone else and no one gets hurt when you break up because you both know that your soul mate is still out there."

Kurt looks over to the other end of the store, where Blaine is helping Janice rearrange the sales table as they sip their coffee. He can't help thinking about his friends from high school, about the rebellious stages, the experimental stages, the getting-carried-away and going-too-far. Names flash through his head, mistakes that were made, tears that were shed, lies that were told. No, Kurt is fairly sure that the only way to completely avoid heartache is to wait for Tobias. He shakes his head.

"I've seen too many people get hurt that way."

Miranda shrugs. "Sometimes a little heartache is good for the soul." She wanders to the back of the store, leaving Kurt to think about his old friends. He thinks about Quinn and Puck and the baby that they put up for adoption; and Finn and Rachel and the constant breaking up and making up, taking each other for granted until they finally stopped playing games; he thinks about Santana and David and the lies that they told and the things that they hid and the secrets that Brittany kept for them. He also thinks about Sam and Mercedes, and how happy they make each other; and how happy Finn and Rachel are now; and how Santana and Brittany and even David's lives got so much better once they stopped pretending.

Mostly though, Kurt thinks about his dad and Carole.

* * *

><p>"Why haven't you asked Kurt out yet?" Janice asks, completely out of the blue, as she passes Blaine another small stack of books from the box at her feet. Blaine shrugs, unfazed by her question, there is no point in pretending that he hasn't thought about it.<p>

"He wouldn't want to. He's waiting for his soul mate."

Janice snorts and raises one eyebrow as she leans forward to rest her elbows on the stacks of books between herself and Blaine and looks up at him through icy blue eyes, under shocking purple eyelashes. "Kurt doesn't know what he wants," she informs him, "Kurt only knows what he _should _want."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asks.

"He knows what he should want," she explains, "what we all should want; to find our soul mate and get married and have babies and live a normal, easy life." Blaine rolls his eyes. Janice notices this and smirks. "Except that you and I know that that isn't what anyone _really_ wants."

"Isn't it?"

"No," Janice assures him, "what we all really want is just someone to love us and take care of us, someone to have fun with and who will never leave no matter how horrible you are to them. That's what we've been told soul mates are so that's what we become. Soul mates are safety nets." With this Janice stands up straight again, a triumphant grin on her face.

"I haven't met many other people who think like that." Blaine smiles and Janice positively beams with pride.

"Oh no, most people do, they just don't know it. Don't get me wrong," she quickly adds, "I'm glad that I have one, means I can do whatever I like and act however I like and someone, somewhere, still has to love me. I just haven't been deluded into thinking that it is anything more than that."

Blaine decides right there and then that he most definitely likes Janice. He already did, of course, but before it was that she was the sort of person that he didn't mind spending time with, now, knowing how she feels about soul mates, he knows that she is most definitely more the sort of person that he would actively seek out to spend time with.

"A safety net?" he repeats. "I like that. That's the perfect way of describing it." But Blaine does not want a safety net. Safety nets are boring.

"Kurt however, does not realise the true beauty of the safety net," Janice informs Blaine. "Most people are perfectly happy to jump around knowing that even when they fall that safety net is still there to catch them so they can climb back up again until one day they don't have to climb back up any more. Kurt on the other hand, is perfectly happy to just lie there, on the safety net, and wait. He doesn't understand the fun of souring through the air because all he can see is the fall."

"He sees no point in flying around if he's only going to end up back in the safety net anyway." Blaine finishes the analogy and Janice nods enthusiastically.

"Exactly."

"That's a great metaphor."

"It's the truth." Janice shrugs but the proud look is still across her face and she can't hide how happy she is that Blaine agrees with her. There's something else there though, a sort of _knowing _behind her pale blue eyes that Blaine can't help but wonder about. It's as if she knows far more than she's letting on, as though this isn't simply a different way of looking at things but the actual correct way of looking at them and he has this strange feeling that were he to ask then she would even have proof to hand.

"Well truth or not," Blaine reasons, "Maybe it's better Kurt's way? At least he won't end up leaving his watch in some strange man's apartment one night and still not having the guts to go back and get it two weeks later." He absently rubs his wrist where his watch should be and Janice laughs, a short bark of a laugh, and then immediately clasps her hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles from behind her hand, but she's still grinning and clearly trying not to laugh more. Blaine breaks out in a smile and laughs along with her, although his cheeks have turned a little pinker than they were before.

"It's OK." He shrugs. "It is pretty funny."

"Two weeks?" she asks. Blaine cringes a little from embarrassment.

"I never usually have to go back, it's nerve-wracking OK."

Janice shakes her head, smiling at him fondly. "Someone knows how to use his safety net," she jokes. Blaine opens his mouth to tell her that that is very much not what he is doing but before he can say anything he is interrupted by Kurt's voice.

"Um, Blaine?" Blaine immediately registers that Kurt sounds nervous and when he turns his head to find Kurt standing at the other end of the sales table he is almost surprised to see that Kurt even looks nervous too. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out for dinner tonight?" He shifts nervously from one foot to the other and even though he is clearly trying to keep it casual there is this weight behind the question that Blaine can sense and he's almost not sure what to do with it because he knows that Kurt means this as more than just two friends going to dinner even if he doesn't quite mean it as a date. He wants to go, of course he does, but he's just not entirely sure why Kurt is asking him and he doesn't want to say yes if it's for the wrong reason.

"Uh, sure Kurt, I'd love to," he says, deciding that he will ask Kurt why he's asking in the first place later, if it comes to it. He knows that it's selfish of him but he can't help how much he likes Kurt and he doesn't want to miss out on any sort of opportunity to get closer to him.

Kurt smiles, obviously relieved, but still a little nervous-looking. "Great, I'll go get my coat."

"Is it closing time already?" Blaine asks.

Kurt nods. "Almost. You should really get a watch."

As soon as Kurt turns to walk away and get his coat Janice starts laughing quietly and Blaine immediately shoots her a very dirty look.

"Sorry," she apologises, making a real effort to stop laughing, "get a watch though," she repeats and then starts to laugh again.

"Yeah, yeah, ha ha," Blaine rolls his eyes, but he's smiling so Janice knows that he doesn't really mind. "Do you really think this is a good idea though?" he asks.

Janice stops laughing immediately and considers Blaine with her icy blue eyes. "I really do." She nods and Blaine feels a little less worried. "But," she says, and Blaine's heart begins to sink a little before she continues, "if you are going to do this, if you are going to take him out of the safety net," she smiles kindly as she returns to her own metaphor, "don't just let him flounder around up there, make him jump."

"Ready to go?" Kurt asks, reappearing at the end of the sales table again.

"Sure," Blaine replies, "be right there." Kurt makes his way over to the shop's front door and Blaine leans toward Janice to whisper quickly, "I'll teach him how to fly," before running after him, leaving Janice smiling to herself.

* * *

><p>They go to the same restaurant that they ate at that first day, but this time Kurt insists on paying. Blaine only orders a salad, telling Kurt that he's just not very hungry. Kurt doesn't believe him but he plays along anyway, ordering the same for himself. Kurt can't help feeling as though it should be more awkward with his paying this time when Blaine has clearly registered that Kurt doesn't have as much money as he does, but he's not exactly surprised to find that it isn't awkward at all, and when he really thinks about it he realises that it was silly to ever think that it would be as they get along so well.<p>

Blaine is distracted but he works hard to make sure that Kurt doesn't notice. He can't stop thinking about the conversation he had with Janice. He likes Kurt, really likes him, more than he has ever liked any of the others, and that makes him feel a little guilty because although he does agree with Janice he can't help but think that it would be better for Kurt if he just left. He just doesn't want to complicate the life of this wonderful man before him any more than is necessary. But Blaine is selfish, too selfish to walk away, and it may have only been two weeks since he met him but he has already become too dependent on Kurt and he knows that he won't walk away until Kurt asks him to. He just hopes that he'll have more time to get to know him first.

"Why did you ask me out to dinner tonight?" Blaine asks suddenly.

Kurt has just taken a bite of food when Blaine asks so he is afforded a few moments to think of his response as he chews. "My brother, Finn, and his wife, Rachel," Kurt begins, hoping that Blaine will understand, "met on the first day of high school but mom and Rachel's dads didn't want them to start dating so young so they all agreed that Rachel and Finn should focus on school and maybe even see other people and not really get together until after high school." Blaine nods, sort of seeing where this is going but not wanting to interrupt. "Anyway, I always thought that was really stupid," Kurt continues, confusing Blaine somewhat, "they saw different people but it was always really awkward because everyone knew that they were soul mates and they would both be so jealous whenever the other started seeing someone and the whole thing was just so ridiculous, like they were living this stupid lie for no good reason." Kurt pauses and Blaine sits back in his chair, this was not what he was expecting at all, and he is more confused than ever. "But I've spoken to them about it," Kurt continues, "and they've both told me that they're glad that they weren't allowed to get together right away, because even though they always knew that any other relationships they had would end eventually, they still loved those people and neither of them would ever give that up."

Blaine smiles somewhat bitterly, part of him likes this end of the story but another part of him can't help but wonder why Finn and Rachel couldn't have stayed with the other people regardless, if they loved them so much.

Kurt takes a deep breath, he's not sure why he's so nervous but he does know that he would sooner perform a solo in front of thousands of people than say what he has to say next.

"I guess I just realised that I don't want to meet Tobias one day without having any of the memories that Rachel and Finn have. I don't want to regret never having tried."

Blaine nods and smiles a small non-committal smile in an attempt to hide the fact that his thoughts are waging war on themselves inside his head. This is exactly what he wants, exactly what he always wants. Kurt, just like all the others before him, wants to _try_, wants to experience and to remember. Blaine is good at that, experiencing, experimenting, creating secret memories that no one will ever know about, that's what he does best. But Kurt isn't like all the others, Kurt is special, and though they've only known each other for two weeks Blaine can already feel how much it will hurt when Kurt leaves him for Tobias, but, just like always, the prospect of spending even a moment living that lie, holding onto that hope that something more is possible, is too much temptation for Blaine to refuse.

"You know," Blaine says, leaning forward again, "I was talking to Janice earlier and-" he stops when he sees Kurt rolling his eyes. "What?"

"Safety nets?" Kurt asks. Blaine nods, slightly stunned. "She takes all of the romance out of it with that analogy."

"Well I don't know if I would call the whole soul mates thing romantic anyway," Blaine counters. Kurt can practically hear the air quotations around the words 'soul mates'.

"Two people destined to find each other and be together no matter what?" Kurt argues. "You don't find that romantic?"

"In the old days, before The Matchmakers, some religions had this thing called arranged marriage," Blaine says, sounding almost angry, "Where people's parents would decide who would marry who. _Soul mates _pretty much remind me of that."

The two stare at each other for what feels like an eternity.

"Maybe this was a bad idea-"

"I'm so sorry, Kurt-"

They both break the silence at the same time and stop together too. They begin to laugh and the tension is immediately broken.

"I understand," Blaine assures Kurt, "I really do, I guess I'm just a little bitter, I didn't have the most nurturing childhood," _understatement of the century, _Blaine thinks to himself before continuing, "I really am glad that you asked me out to dinner Kurt."

"I'm sorry too," Kurt smiles a bashful, almost embarrassed, smile, "I need to try and remember that it's not quite as simple for most people as it is for me. A lot of people agree with Janice's safety net idea."

"You have to admit she makes a very convincing argument," Blaine reasons.

Kurt clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Of course she does," he says, "Her grandmother was a Matchmaker."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) Recently, there has been an accusation on this fic of plagiarism from the fic "but with a whimper" by of-a-crescendo, which can be found on livejournal. It can be concluded that any similarities (accidental or not) were not written with a mindset that is cruel, vicious or malicious in any way, shape or form. However, it has been left up to the reader to decide the level of coincidence and whether there is an apparent influence or not.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Miranda arrives at the bookstore to find Blaine already sitting on the doorstep, sunglasses on, head tilted back against the wall, face turned to the early-morning sun. She looks down at him for a few moments, considering the contented smirk across his full lips, the way that the sun shines through the lenses of his sunglasses to still highlight his long eyelashes, and the way that the light makes certain strands of his dark, curly hair look almost golden brown.

If any boy is going to finally make Kurt realise that he could have a life before his soul mate then Miranda is not only sure that it will be this one but glad too.

"Don't you have your own job to go to?" she asks, stepping over Blaine to unlock the shop door.

Blaine's grin widens as he opens his eyes to look up at her before replying. "Nope."

"Then how do you live?" Miranda asks as Blaine jumps up and follows her into the store.

"My father pays for everything." Blaine shrugs but the cheer in his voice sounds a little more forced than it did before.

"Wow. He must be very generous," Miranda says.

"Nope." Blaine shrugs again but this time he finds it even more difficult to keep the cheer in his voice. "Just wealthy."

Blaine looks up and sees the concerned look in Miranda's eyes. It's a look he's never seen from her before and his entire face sort of crumbles in front of it until his smile is much smaller and bitterer than before.

"He pays for everything," Blaine continues, "as long as I stay out of trouble and out of his way."

"Ah." Miranda nods once and it is suddenly clear that she understands entirely. "So you're the black sheep, huh?"

"I guess that's one way of putting it." Blaine agrees.

"I hear that," Miranda says, making her way to the back office. Blaine follows behind quickly. "My entire family are lawyers," she continues, "and I mean my entire family, on both sides, with the exception of me and one cousin on my mother's side," she slams her handbag down on the desk in the office and looks up at Blaine, "he's a street performer."

Blaine can't help but laugh a little at the way that Miranda says this last line and her face softens a little at the sight of it.

"A street performer?" he asks.

"He juggles flaming batons and swords. Also fruit." Miranda sits down behind the desk and begins to search through the drawers. "He's very good," she continues, "and he's happy so I suppose that's the main thing. The rest of the family however most definitely do not agree and we are both ignored by almost all of them. Here." She stops searching and holds up a small white name pin and a black marker.

"What's this?" Blaine asks, taking the two things from her.

"Well with the amount of time you spend here I figured it was about time you got a nametag."

"A nametag implies I work here."

"Showing up every morning and spending the day stacking books implies you work here too."

They both smile as Blaine sits down across the desk from Miranda. "Does it have to say Blaine?"

"What else would it say?"

Blaine thinks for a moment and then smiles. "Alfonso."

"If you want people to call you Alfonso then you carry on."

Blaine grins to himself as he writes his own name on the flat white plastic of the nametag.

"What are you doing here so early anyway?" Miranda asks while Blaine very carefully pins the nametag to the front of his shirt.

"I was just hoping to talk to Janice before Kurt gets here."

"Oh," Miranda picks up the phone on the desk, which Blaine takes as his cue to leave, "well she should be here soon. In the mean time would you mind-"

"One coffee coming up," Blaine winks as he stands from his chair and exits the office.

Blaine is on edge as he makes his way to the coffee machine in the break room, hoping that Janice will arrive before Kurt. He knows that Kurt would try and dissuade him from asking Janice about her grandmother but the opportunity is just too good to pass up. Blaine has always wanted to know more about The Matchmakers, to know if there is anything at all that might prove that what he believes is right, and finally he has found someone that might be able to tell him. Still he knows that it's wrong. He is sure that Janice probably didn't tell him about her grandmother for a reason and he has a feeling that the very reason might just be because she doesn't like to talk about her. But he has to try.

He is still considering whether this is a good idea or not when he hears the bell above the door announcing that someone has entered the shop and moments later Janice appears in the break room with him.

"Obviously your date didn't go very well last night then," she says as she falls down on the nearest chair.

"Why?" Blaine asks, handing her a cup of coffee.

"Well you're here before Kurt," she grins as she accepts the drink from him, "and you've had time to change."

"The date went fine thank you." Blaine laughs as he pours his own coffee.

"Did you kiss him?" Janice asks, clearly enjoying herself.

"No." Blaine replies truthfully. "But then I think we both know that Kurt Hummel is not the type to kiss on the first date."

"Maybe not," Janice shrugs, "but technically that was your second date, and we all know what happens on the third date."

"Actually," Blaine replies with a smirk as he sits down opposite her, "I don't usually make it to the third date."

Janice laughs and they both drink their coffee in silence for a few moments.

"What are you doing here so early anyway?" Janice asks eventually.

"I was hoping to talk to you before the others got here actually." Blaine replies. Janice looks curious and for a moment Blaine feels almost guilty, as though he has trapped her, which he supposes he sort of has. "You see, the thing is," he plunges in before Janice has a chance to say anything else and he loses his nerve, "Kurt told me about your grandmother."

"Ah." Understanding dawns across Janice's features and Blaine feels extra guilty because he is suddenly all too sure that he is not the first person to want to discuss this with Janice, and he seems to know exactly what she is about to say.

"I only wanted to ask a few questions-"

"The thing is Blaine," Janice interrupts, "I don't know much. I'm not supposed to know anything, of what I do know half of it is guesswork, and I'm really not allowed to talk about any of it at all. It's a very secret thing."

Blaine nods. He can't help but feel like a small child being told by his teacher that there are some things that he shouldn't be asking about.

"You can't tell me anything at all?" Blaine asks.

Janice looks pained for a moment, as though she really does want to tell him everything she knows but just can't do it.

"I'm sorry."

Blaine sighs. "Well then just tell me one thing. In your opinion, with everything that you do know, is it really a good idea for me and Kurt to continue seeing each other?"

"Yes." Janice answers immediately. "Absolutely."

Blaine smiles, satisfied. There is more he would like to ask of course but Janice has made it very clear that she does not wish to talk about it so Blaine swears to himself that he won't press the issue.

"You know, The Matchmakers have always been around," Janice says suddenly. "It just wasn't until my grandmother was a little girl that they began to be recognised and to become organised."

"Really?" Blaine asks, not wanting to say too much. He is unsure why she has decided to tell him this after all but he does not want her to change her mind again. It is not pressing the issue, he decides, if she wants to talk about it after all.

Janice nods. "The whole matchmaking thing doesn't start until puberty," she explains, "that's when they're taken away from their families. Those years are really important and they have to be trained how to use it properly. If they don't, if it's completely ignored throughout puberty, then it can stop working, so that's what a lot of cultures used to do. Not anymore though. I don't really know how or why they started to become organised but they did and now the children have to be trained." She pauses here to take another sip of her coffee and Blaine waits patiently, hoping that she will go on. "The gene is stronger in girls than it is in boys for some reason, to have a male Matchmaker both of the parents would have to be carriers, like me. When they're born their eyes are bright blue like mine, but before their second birthday they begin to change to that violet colour. I know it's not exactly the questions you would have asked," she finishes, "but that's really as much as I can tell you. The science, the history of it, and not even all of that."

"Thank you," Blaine says, immediately, praying that she will hear the sincerity in his voice and know that he really means it. Honestly, this is more than he ever expected her to tell him and he's glad to know anything at all about these mysterious people.

"They're very well organised," Janice tells him, and there is a strangely ominous tone to her words, "more so than you might think, and they're all sort of… connected. Anyway that's far more than I probably should have told you already. Come on," she downs the remainder of her coffee and jumps up from her chair, her normal self again, all traces of the strange atmosphere from before gone, "we'd better get to work."

* * *

><p>Over the next few days, after their conversation about The Matchmakers, Janice begins to distance herself from Blaine. He tries to talk to her but she always has an excuse, somewhere she needs to be or something she needs to do, and if it wasn't for Kurt steadily becoming increasingly less distant then Blaine would be really concerned, as it is however he is far too distracted by Kurt's advances to pay attention to very much else all week. At least, he assumes that they are advances, it's difficult to tell with Kurt, but he doesn't bring anyone else a medium-drip and a macadamia nut and white chocolate chip cookie every morning so Blaine can only assume that this is part of Kurt's courting process.<p>

Blaine is unsurprised at how slowly Kurt takes whatever-it-is-that-they're-doing, the coffee and cookies are the only real sign that anything has changed at all and it isn't as though Blaine was expecting heated make out sessions in the store room during Kurt's breaks but this is definitely considerably slower moving than any of Blaine's past relationships. Most probably because this could, in fact, be referred to as a relationship, unlike most of the others. But what does surprise him is how much he enjoys taking it slow. He enjoys the little smiles they shoot each other when Kurt is with a customer and Blaine is stacking the shelves, and he enjoys their hands brushing together not-too-accidentally as they walk around the shop, and he enjoys taking breaks together and just sitting and laughing as they eat, and he really enjoys the Thursday afternoon when Kurt grabs him on his way back from the restroom and he finds himself locked in the supply closet, his back awkwardly pressed against a vacuum cleaner.

"Hi?"

"Hi."

The only light is that seeping in through the crack under the door and it takes Blaine a few moments for his eyes to adjust. When they do he can just about make out the details of Kurt's face and it takes him a few seconds more to realise that this is the closest their faces have ever been and all of a sudden he feels as though this is moving far more at a pace he's used to.

"We're in a closet." Blaine points out.

Kurt lets out a quiet, breathy laugh as his hands find Blaine's in the dark. "Irony." He jokes quietly.

Blaine smiles as Kurt laces their fingers together. "OK," he tries again, "why are we in a closet?"

Kurt shrugs, his own heartbeat loud in his ears, hoping that Blaine can't hear his heart pounding against his ribcage. _We're in a closet because it's dark and you won't be able to see how much I'm blushing. _"It's my break."

"We usually spend that in the break room." Blaine's voice is steady, almost teasingly so. Finally he is in familiar territory.

"I thought we'd try something else today." Kurt's voice is less steady and for a moment Blaine thinks of stopping this, going back to coffee and cookies and lunch and waiting until Kurt is completely ready for anything more than that.

But then Kurt's right hand is on the back of Blaine's neck and his left hand is gripping onto Blaine's right so tightly and suddenly, without Blaine having any time to think, they are kissing and Blaine is all of a sudden completely unsure how he had even spent so much as a week not kissing Kurt because not kissing Kurt seems like the most ridiculous thing to waste one's time on and he hopes that he will never have to go back to a time of not kissing Kurt ever again.

Then Kurt moves closer and Blaine tries to move back towards a wall or something more solid than the vacuum cleaner that is currently digging into his back but ends up standing on a dustpan and losing his balance as the dustpan's brush clangs noisily into the metal shelves lining the back wall of the tiny room. Kurt's right arm latches onto Blaine's waist at just the right moment to stop him from falling but he has already knocked over a mop by this time as his free hand searched for something to balance on and as the mop bangs Kurt's arm on its way to the floor the moment is somewhat shattered.

They both stare at each other in the dark for a long moment, neither one of them moving an inch. Then almost simultaneously they start laughing and Kurt helps Blaine regain his footing and balance.

"Um, maybe the supply closet wasn't the best idea," Kurt laughs.

"No, maybe not." Blaine smiles back at him.

They are still holding hands, throughout the entire incident Kurt's left hand has not released Blaine's right, even when Blaine nearly fell over, and Blaine squeezes that hand lightly now.

"Perhaps," he suggests, "we should try this again tomorrow, at my place? I could order Chinese and make you proper coffee. I even have cramped closet space if you feel uncomfortable kissing me while you can actually see my face."

"That all sounds wonderful," Kurt replies, his voice wistful, "but I can't tomorrow. I'm expecting a really important phone call in the evening."

"Well you can bring your phone with you." Blaine shrugs, "I'll even let you bring it into the closet with us if you want."

Kurt sighs. "I'm never going to live down this closet thing am I?"

"Nope."

* * *

><p>Kurt seems anxious all evening. His cell phone stays next to his plate throughout their dinner, he glances at his watch every five minutes and more than once Blaine finds his attention drifting during their conversation.<p>

"You know I won't be offended if you want to go home," Blaine says as he collects up their plates.

"What?" Kurt asks, snapping out of yet another daydream, "No. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be distant."

"I know." Blaine smiles kindly from the kitchen, "just, maybe we shouldn't have done this today."

"No, I want to, really I do," Kurt promises. "Besides," he adds with a smile, "you said you had a closet?"

"Yes I did." Blaine laughs as he sets about putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

Kurt wishes that he could be more present but he can't help being on edge. He knows that he should never have agreed to come round this evening, even the following day would have been better, but as he stood with Blaine in that closet the day before he couldn't help but give in at the thought of being able to kiss him again.

"Your apartment is beautiful," he says, standing up to get a better look at the view through the French doors leading out to the tiny balcony with its perfect view of the sea. Blaine's apartment is exactly as Kurt imagined it, very modern and very white but with old furniture that all at once doesn't fit with the décor and yet does. Kurt would have decorated the place very differently but yet he would never dream of changing any of it now because it is all so very Blaine, down to the piles of books scattered everywhere he looks. However it does surprise him to see that almost all of the books are art and photography related or very old fiction books, and there is a very large collection of old black and white movies next to the television that he did not expect to find.

"Thank you," Blaine replies, "I wanted to paint the walls but we only rent the place so the most I could do was fill it with my own hideous old furniture."

"I don't think it's hideous," Kurt says, turning his attention to the particularly beaten up old couch in the living area, completely covered with multi-coloured throw pillows and an obviously handmade blanket slung across the back of it.

"Liar," Blaine laughs. "Now, do we want cupcakes or ice cream for dessert?"

"What kind of ice cream?" Kurt asks as he sits down on the couch. He is surprised at how comfortable it is, and as he sinks slightly into the cushion he suddenly understands the necessity of so many throw pillows.

Blaine peers into the freezer for a moment, "Um… vanilla." He closes the freezer door and turns to look at Kurt. "Guess I forgot to pick up ice cream. Cupcakes then?"

"Sure." Kurt smiles and for a moment Blaine thinks he might have snapped out of whatever was wrong before, but then he sees him glance at his watch again and that worried look reappears.

"What is this phone call you're waiting for anyway?" Blaine asks as he takes two cupcakes out of a box on the counter and arranges them on plates.

"Oh." Kurt looks down at his hands sheepishly. It's the one question that he had hoped Blaine would not ask and the one that they had somehow managed to avoid all evening, but he supposes it was bound to come up sooner or later. "It's kind of a long story."

"Hey," Blaine says as he sits down next to Kurt and hands him one of the plates, "I've got nothing but time."

Kurt looks down at the cupcake and lets out a long, tired sigh. "It's one of my friends from back home. Puck. When we were in high school he and our friend Quinn had a baby." Kurt takes a deep breath before continuing, he has never told anyone this story before and it almost seems as though he shouldn't be discussing it but he just feels so comfortable with Blaine and he knows, deep down, that Blaine will understand. "But they aren't soul mates. Puck didn't care though, he loved Quinn, I think he still loves Quinn, and he was so excited about it, he was ready to quit school and get a job and a house and raise that baby together no matter what people said, but Quinn didn't want to. Quinn wanted her soul mate, so she gave the baby up for adoption." Kurt looks over at Blaine and sees the understanding in his eyes urging him to continue. "She ended up being adopted by Rachel's birth mom actually, as if things couldn't get any more twisted, her and her husband can't have kids so they adopted her. Beth. Puck chose the name. It broke Puck's heart, and now every year, on Beth's birthday, he goes out and he gets completely drunk and then he calls me and I have to call my brother to go and get him." Kurt's breath hitches a little and Blaine can see the tears welling in his eyes. "And every year the phone call comes a little later, and every year the bar he's at is a little further away from Lima, and every year I worry that this year, this year he won't phone at all-" Kurt breaks off, clearly trying to hold back tears, and Blaine instinctively reaches out to take his hand.

"Hey," he says, scooting closer, "hey it's OK, he'll call, of course he'll call, you said he always does."

"I know," Kurt nods slightly and tries to smile but fails, "it's just that it's already nearly twelve and last year he called at quarter past eleven. He starts drinking early in the day," he adds as further explanation.

"I'm sure he'll call any minute," Blaine says softly.

Blaine gently places his hand beneath Kurt's chin and guides his face up until Kurt is looking him in the eyes.

"He'll call," Blaine promises.

For a moment they sit like that, just staring into each other's eyes. Then Kurt bites his bottom lip and nods ever so slightly, and before he has time to look down again Blaine is kissing him. Kurt is startled at first but almost instinctively his arms make their way around Blaine's neck and his fingers curl into Blaine's hair. Blaine inhales deeply as Kurt pulls lightly on his hair and they shift ever so slowly, Blaine lowering Kurt onto the couch. The plate and cupcake fall from Kurt's lap with a dull thud as they land on the rug, completely unnoticed by the two men.

In that moment Kurt forgets everything else; every worry that he has ever had, every moment of doubt. He entirely forgets about Tobias Green and even about Puck and Beth. In that moment all that Kurt thinks of is Blaine and it is the happiest he has ever been.

Then his phone rings.

Blaine sits up immediately and Kurt, feeling slightly dizzy, simply blinks up at him.

"Your phone." Blaine says breathlessly. Kurt blinks again and the phone chirps once more. Finally he understands and, jumping up, he races towards the table, raising the phone to his ear with such speed that any doubt Blaine might have had about the seriousness of Puck's drinking would have immediately been dashed by Kurt's reaction.

"Hello?" Kurt breathes into the phone.

"Kurt? Hey. It's Puck." Kurt sighs with relief.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at a bar, listen, do you know what day it is, Kurt?"

"Yes Puck," Kurt moves to sit back down on the couch, next to Blaine, "I know what day it is. Where are you?"

"It's her birthday Kurt, my little girl, and I don't get to see her-"

"Noah Puckerman," Kurt snaps, his voice taking on a tone that Blaine has never heard him use before, "you tell me where you are right this instant."

There's silence for a few moments and then a muffled "hey" before a completely different voice asks, "you gonna come pick him up or am I gonna have to chuck him out on the street?"

"Someone will come and get him but he won't tell me where he is," Kurt replies, "I'm sorry to ask this but if I give you his number could you please phone my brother and tell him where to find you? He's expecting a call."

"I guess so," the voice agrees. Kurt quickly relays the number and the person on the other end of the line passes the phone back to Puck.

"He's calling Finn, isn't he?" Puck asks.

"Yes," Kurt replies sternly, "and if you do not sit there and wait and then go with Finn then I will drive to Ohio myself and slap you in the face and don't think that I won't."

"No," Puck laughs, "I know you would. You tell me every year."

"And I mean it every year," Kurt says, not a hint of joking in his voice. "Now tell me what you've had to drink."

"Just a couple of beers-"

"Noah."

"Alright a few beers."

"You have to stop this Puck, it isn't good-"

"He's on his way," the other voice says suddenly.

"Good old Finn," Puck says quietly.

"He cares about you. We all do."

"Yeah, everyone cares about me. Especially Quinn. She really cares about me."

"Puck-"

"No, no, it's cool, I get it, Finn and Rachel, Sam and Mercedes, Britt and Santana, look at how happy they all are, of course Quinn wanted that. But I don't want that. I just want my girl."

"I know you do."

There's silence for a few moments and Blaine immediately feels as though he shouldn't be there, as though he is prying in something that he has no right to know about.

"Anyway, I'd better go, wait for Finn," Puck says, breaking the silence.

"You promise me that you will wait for him," Kurt orders.

"I promise."

"I'll call tomorrow, see how your hangover's treating you."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Kurt."

"Anytime."

Puck hangs up the phone first and Kurt lets out a large gust of breath before putting his cell phone on the coffee table.

"You sure he'll wait?" Blaine asks.

Kurt nods, his head leant back against the couch and his eyes closed. "He always waits… Finn will text me when they're back home." He exhales loudly once more before turning and smiling at Blaine. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Dealing with my family drama."

Blaine chuckles. "I've had my fair share of family drama," he says, taking Kurt's hand again.

This time it is Kurt who pulls Blaine towards him, and this time no one notices at all when his phone beeps to alert him to a new message.


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt's eyelids flutter open. The sunlight streams across his face and he immediately closes his eyes again as cool sea air envelopes him from the open window. He smiles a little against the breeze, smelling the salt in the air, feeling it on his skin. His smile falters as he remembers that his apartment isn't anywhere near the sea, he lives on the other side of the city entirely. An arm snakes its way around his waist and all at once Kurt remembers exactly where he is and who he's with and before he can remember anything else he flings himself out of the bed, grabbing his clothes from the floor and pulling them on hastily, barely remembering to put underwear on before pants.

"In a hurry?" A sleepy voice asks from the bed.

Kurt doesn't even turn to look at him.

"I have to go," he murmurs as he tries to button his shirt with shaking hands.

"Oh. Why?" Kurt hears the shift of material and knows, without having to look, that Blaine has moved to sit up in the bed; that the covers will have slipped down to rest on his lap; that the sunlight will be streaming across his skin, almost as pale as Kurt's beyond the lines of his tan but never quite there, never any less than the palest of olive complexions, contrasting with Kurt's porcelain skin so well. This thought brings back other memories, memories from last night that Kurt cannot think about right now, memories that would make it impossible for him to say what he has to say next.

Which is also why he is still not looking at Blaine.

Kurt takes a deep breath to steady himself before answering Blaine's question. "Because this should never have happened." Kurt's hands begin to shake again as they brush over the loose clump of thread where a button has been ripped from his shirt.

"Why?" Blaine asks again, but the tone of his voice has changed and it very much suggests that he knows exactly why Kurt wants to leave.

Kurt makes no attempt to stop his voice from trembling as he skims his fingers over the space where the missing button should be. "Because it was a mistake."

Blaine must finally notice how completely flustered Kurt is because when he asks again his voice is much softer. "Why?"

"It was just a bad idea, OK." Kurt says, finally giving up attempting to button his shirt any more, realising that it is almost impossible at this point anyway.

"Why?"

"Because," Kurt snaps, finally turning to look at the young man with his back propped against the headboard, the sun almost caressing every contour of his skin as Kurt himself had only hours before. "You aren't my soul mate," he finishes quietly, bitterly, closing his eyes to the light from the sun that is suddenly far too bright as he tries to hold back the vicious tears threatening to fall from his beautiful eyes.

Blaine simply stares at the beautiful man before him for a few minutes, unsure of what to say. In the short time that they have known each other Blaine has never seen Kurt look so… terrified.

"Well I don't see why that nonsense should affect this."

Kurt's eyes snap open again. "It isn't nonsense. Don't you know who your soul mate is?"

Blaine shrugs. "Some guy called Richard."

"And you don't feel even a little bit guilty?" Kurt asks, disbelieving evident in his voice.

"For what?" Blaine replies a little defensively. "For not waiting around for him? For not spending my every waking moment looking for him? For actually living my life?"

"But he's your soul mate-"

"I don't even know the guy!" As Blaine gets more and more frustrated, Kurt's expression only becomes more conflicted. "Who says he's my soul mate? Some old woman who met me once when I was barely old enough to understand what she was saying to me-"

"I just can't OK. I'm sorry," Kurt says, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't understand why not," Blaine replies, not unkindly but a little impatiently.

"Because." Kurt looks into Blaine's eyes properly for the first time all morning and Blaine's heart begins to melt when he sees the sadness there. "You're the most wonderful person I've ever met. You make me feel like I'm worth something, like I'm not invisible. When I'm with you I forget all of the bad things that have happened in the past, all of the horrible words and the even worse looks, it's all gone, and there's only you and the way that you look at me as if I'm the most beautiful thing you've ever seen." Kurt cannot hold back the tears anymore and by the time he has finished talking they are pouring down his face.

"That doesn't exactly sound like much of a problem," Blaine says softly. All he wants is to run to Kurt and wipe the tears from his cheeks but he knows that he can't. Not yet.

"The problem," Kurt says, sounding incredibly bitter, "is that I am not Richard, and you are not Tobias Green."

"Kurt." Blaine sighs and reaches his hands out, praying that Kurt will take them. There is a moment of doubt before Kurt steps forward and takes Blaine's hands in his own. "Kurt I am not asking for forever. I am not asking you to run away with me and forget about Tobias. I just want you to give this a chance, give us a chance. I want you to let yourself be happy." Kurt looks down and Blaine lets go of one of his hands to reach up and tilt Kurt's chin back, so that he has to look at him. "And if, one day, you meet Tobias, and you want to go with him then I will understand. I'll let you go. I just want you to be happy."

Kurt knows that Blaine means this. He does not doubt for one second that Blaine will let him go when he needs to. But he is also beginning to see how difficult it will be, for both of them. "It isn't an 'if' though," he says, "it's 'when'. I will meet him, and you will meet Richard, that's how it works, that's how it always works."

"Well," Blaine shrugs, "we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it." The two men look at each other for a long time before Blaine says, his tone soft but intense; "I made my choice a long time ago, not to let anyone make it for me. You have to make your own choice, and when you do, I'll be OK."

"I'm falling in love with you," Kurt says, quietly, sounding so afraid. "It's barely been three weeks and I'm falling in love with you. That isn't supposed to happen, I'm not supposed to love anyone but him."

Blaine smiles even though he knows that he probably shouldn't. "I started falling in love with you as soon as I saw you," he tells Kurt. "It's OK to fall in love with other people. We're only human, Kurt, sometimes we can't control our emotions."

"Have you ever been in love before?" Kurt asks. Blaine is stunned for a moment. He had not expected Kurt to ask anything like this. He thinks for a moment before answering very carefully.

"No. I used to think that I was, but now I know that I was wrong."

Kurt considers this for a moment before continuing. "I just know that the more time we spend together, the more I am going to fall in love with you and the more difficult it's going to be when-"

"Hey," Blaine interrupts, tugging lightly on Kurt's hands. "We don't need to think about that right now. Like I said, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, until then we can just forget about it, pretend it isn't happening, and just carry on doing what we're doing, take it all one step at a time. It's a lot easier than it sounds." And though they've never really discussed it Kurt needs no more proof than the way that Blaine says this to confirm that this is what Blaine does, what he has been doing all his life.

"OK." Kurt says quietly after a moment's hesitation.

"OK?" Blaine repeats, trying so hard not to smile.

"OK." Kurt says again. He exhales and it is as though a weight has been lifted. He smiles down at Blaine timidly, somewhat embarrassed but still a little apprehensive. "So," he asks, "what's the first step?"

Blaine grins and Kurt swears that he can actually feel himself falling a little bit more in love as he looks at that smile. "Breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Kurt laughs, "Breakfast is the first step?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

><p>The first thing that Kurt notices when he goes into the living room is the cupcake, squashed between plate and rug on the floor next to the couch. A soft pink blush spreads across his cheeks as he remembers knocking it over the night before. "Sorry about that," he says, gesturing to the cupcake as Blaine walks into the room behind him.<p>

"Hmm?" Blaine turns to look at where Kurt is pointing and smiles blearily, obviously still tired, as he sees the mess. "Oh. Never mind." He shrugs and makes his way over to the fridge, opening it to find that there is very little in there in the way of breakfast foods. When he closes the fridge door again Kurt is already knelt down by the couch scooping the bits of broken up cupcake onto the plate.

"Kurt," Blaine laughs a little watching him, "You don't have to do that."

"That's OK, it was me who dropped it."

"No, I mean, you really don't have to do that. I have a maid."

Kurt turns to look at him and suddenly Blaine is very uncomfortable. He has never really been embarrassed about money before but the way that Kurt is looking at him makes him feel kind of ashamed and he's not entirely sure why.

"Oh OK Mr Rockefeller," Kurt says before going back to cleaning up the cupcake.

"Well she's not really _my _maid," Blaine quickly corrects himself, "she's the building's maid. She cleans all the apartments-"

"Yep, no, that's fine," Kurt says, continuing to pile crumbs onto the plate, "just don't start thinking it's OK to just leave food on the floor in my apartment, I don't have a maid, just ants."

"Your apartment?" Blaine asks, leaning against the dining table, "I actually get to enter your apartment now?" Kurt rolls his eyes and Blaine simply continues with a grin, "because usually I just get to walk you to the door of the building and then I am shooed away and even that I've only been allowed to do a couple of times so this is really a big deal for me-"

"Didn't you say something about breakfast?" Kurt interrupts, standing up and carrying the plate of crumbs into the kitchen.

"I did. But I don't really have any breakfast food so I'll have to go and get something."

"How can you not have any breakfast food?"

"I usually eat while I'm out and I wasn't exactly expecting company this morning."

Kurt laughs, although he is clearly a little embarrassed, and Blaine watches as he makes his way around the kitchen, putting the remains of the cupcake into the bin, putting the plate in the sink, wetting a dishcloth and wringing it out before making his way back over to the living room to wipe up the icing on the floor. Kurt looks so at home and Blaine begins to imagine a different life, one where they didn't have this horrible thing looming over them and this could be Kurt's home too and it wouldn't be any different to the lives that everyone else leads.

"I'll go and get us some breakfast," he says, quickly distracting himself before he gets too carried away with these thoughts of things that can never be. "Any requests?"

"No, anything's fine."

Blaine takes one more look at Kurt before leaving.

Kurt seemed so scared that morning, telling Blaine that he was falling in love with him, but Blaine is sure that Kurt can't possibly be as absolutely terrified as he himself is. Of all of the men that he has known in his life none of them have ever made him feel so utterly hopeless and yet completely free. He has always hoped that someone would choose him in the end but never before has he cared so much that this is the person who chooses him. Before it was always so vague, just running from person to person, hoping that one day someone, anyone, would ask him to stay, but this is certain. If, when, Kurt leaves him Blaine thinks that he might just stop because if he can't have Kurt then he doesn't want anyone. That or he will just move to a different place and carry on as he was before he met Kurt, settling for feeling wanted one night at a time.

For the time being though he knows that Kurt wants him to stay, so he forces all of the other thoughts to the back of his mind, determined to do exactly as he has told Kurt they will and take everything one step at a time.

* * *

><p>As soon as Blaine leaves Kurt calls Finn, feeling a little guilty for not having texted him back the night before. He continues cleaning as the phone rings and by the time Finn has picked up he is already stood at the sink, rinsing out the cloth and washing the plate.<p>

"Hello?"

"Finn, hey, it's me," Kurt says, the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder, "how is he?"

"Asleep," Finn replies his voice groggy.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Kurt asks. He is suddenly hit with a rush of homesickness, something that he doesn't get often, usually only when talking to his father or Carole, but now, hearing Finn sound so obviously tired, he is reminded of all of the mornings that he had to drag Finn out of bed to make sure that he ate breakfast and they both got to school on time and he finds that he really does miss his brother a lot more than he pretends.

"Yeah but it's fine, Holly would have had me up soon enough anyway," Finn says, referring to his and Rachel's two year old daughter.

"How is she?"

"Bossy."

Kurt laughs. "Just like her mother then."

Finn grunts as Kurt sits down at the dining table.

"How was he last night then?" Kurt says, forcing the conversation back to Puck, "Did he say anything?"

"Just the usual." Kurt can almost hear Finn shrug. "Hey, how come you didn't text me back? You usually do."

Kurt has to stifle a laugh as he replies. "I was kind of busy, sorry."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing you'd be interested in."

"Oh."

"So how is everyone?" Kurt asks, desperate to change the subject before Finn asks any more questions.

"Fine I guess," Finn yawns, "Mom said to ask if you're still coming back for her birthday and dad said to make sure that you are."

"Of course I am," Kurt insists, a little upset that they would think that he wouldn't be. "I wouldn't miss it for anything. You did remember to get her a present, didn't you?"

"Rachel made her a scrapbook of Holly."

"Finn, Holly is adorable but you need to get your mother a proper present as well. There's a book she mentioned wanting to read the other day, I'll pick up a copy at the bookstore and you can pay me back, OK?"

"Whatever you say."

"Good."

They are both silent for a moment and they both know without either having to say it that they're thinking about how much they miss each other. The only time that they have ever said 'I love you' to each other was the night that Holly was born. Kurt had driven like a madman, running all of the red lights, to make sure that he was back in Lima before she was born, and after she was Finn brought her out into the waiting room and Kurt was the first person to hold her hand. Finn had been crying and smiling so wide, and Kurt had started crying too and that was when Finn said it and Kurt said it back and they hugged with this tiny new life between them. That was when they both knew that no matter who their parents were, they were brothers and they were a family. That was the night that Kurt had called Carole mom for the first time and Finn had called Burt dad for the first time as well.

Ever since that night Kurt has found it more and more difficult to be away from his family.

"Is he going to be OK?" Kurt asks.

"Puck? He'll be fine. He always is."

"That's debatable."

"Well he'll be as fine as he ever is."

"Good."

"Did anyone tell you, Quinn's coming back for mom's birthday?"

"Quinn is?" Kurt asks, shocked, "but Quinn never comes back to Lima for anything."

"Well she is. She called mom yesterday."

"Does Puck know?"

"Not yet. Rachel thinks it'll be best if we wait a couple of days to tell him."

"That's probably a good idea."

"If you want I could get him to phone you later."

"No that's OK, you know how embarrassed he gets about the whole thing. I'll just see him when I come back for mom's birthday."

"I'm back!" Kurt spins around quickly to see Blaine walking through the door, holding a tray containing two coffees and what looks like the entire contents of a Starbucks pastry counter. "I wasn't sure what you liked so I just got one of every- oh sorry," he breaks off in a significantly quieter tone, "I didn't realise you were on the phone."

"Who was that?" Finn asks, his voice taking on a steely tone that Kurt does not appreciate.

"Someone from work," Kurt replies shortly. "Not that it is any of your business Finn Hudson."

Blaine smirks and disappears into the bedroom with their breakfast.

"You're my bro of course it's my business."

"I am your _brother_ and it isn't. I have to go."

"Wait a second-"

"Don't you have a diaper to change or something?"

"Kurt!"

"Bye Finn."

Kurt lets out a gust of breathe in relief as he hangs up the phone before following Blaine into the bedroom.

"Blaine?" Kurt, standing in the doorway, looks around the room, unable to see Blaine anywhere. Then he realises. "You're in the closet, aren't you?"

Blaine's head pops out of the doorway to the open closet, inset in the wall. "Yep."

Kurt rolls his eyes but goes to sit down on the floor of the closet with him. "This is not a thing."

"Yes it is." Blaine grins, clearly pleased with himself, and passes Kurt his coffee. "Help yourself to food."

Kurt looks around. Blaine has pushed the few clothes that are hanging up so that they are pressed against the sides of the closet, leaving more than enough space for the two of them to sit. "This closet is bigger than my bathroom."

"It's just the right size for two grown men to eat their breakfast in." Blaine says. There is something slightly forced about his mannerisms but Kurt doesn't want to press it, knowing that Blaine will tell him if he wants to.

"This is not going to be a regular thing," Kurt warns.

"Well of course not," Blaine agrees, "apparently I'm allowed to enter your apartment now so we'll be eating breakfast there sometimes too. Although if your bathroom is smaller than this closet then I dread to think what size your closet is, we probably won't be able to eat breakfast in there."

"You know earlier when I said I was falling in love with you? I take that back."

Blaine simply grins in response and all of the homesickness that Kurt was previously feeling dissipates entirely.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) Hi, I just wanted to put a quick note in here to say thank you so much for putting up with me and how long it takes me to update this story, and also to just let you all know that I recently made a playlist to accompany this fic which is available for download and can be found on my Tumblr (same username as on here). I'm also working on a TA!Blaine fic at the moment and I am posting all of the parts of that on Tumblr so if you're interested then you should come and take a look :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Blaine opens his eyes slowly. He realises that he is not in his own bed and is reaching for his shoes before he remembers whose bed it is. It's automatic. His hand is not half way to the floor before he remembers where he is and he looks over to see that Kurt is still sound asleep next to him. Smiling, Blaine slides back down under the covers, his elbow propping him up. It's the second morning in a row that he has woken up next to Kurt and to Blaine that means something. Kurt looks so peaceful and Blaine wishes, yet again, that they could somehow freeze this moment and stay in it forever. Not least because a very small part of him is worried that Kurt might freak out again when he wakes up.

Kurt's apartment is darker than Blaine's in almost every way. Kurt's apartment is far smaller, there aren't as many windows, and the windows that are there face away from the sun, but there is colour everywhere. There are blankets and throw pillows and paintings and a corkboard absolutely covered with photographs. And clothes. The whole apartment is filled with clothes, the bedroom in particular being filled almost to the point where it's difficult to move. There is an old sewing machine in the living room, half a jacket lying over the machine, still waiting to be finished, surrounded by reams of material and piles of sketchbooks, and there are mood boards on every available surface. Blaine had of course noticed that Kurt took pride in the way he looked and that he always wore very unique outfits, but he had had no idea at all that fashion was so large a part of Kurt's life. It makes him wonder what Kurt is doing wasting his time working in the bookstore.

Blaine doesn't even realise that Kurt is awake until he says, "tell me you haven't been watching me sleep."

Blaine laughs. "Maybe a little."

"Well that's kind of creepy." Kurt shifts and Blaine immediately reaches out to wrap his hands around Kurt's wrists. "What are you doing?" Kurt asks, finally opening his eyes to look at Blaine.

Blaine moves closer to Kurt, still holding Kurt's hands together between them both. "I don't want you trying to run away again."

"This is my apartment, where would I run to?"

Blaine shrugs. "The kitchen?"

"If I promise not to run away to the kitchen then will you give me back my hands?"

"Nope." Blaine brings Kurt's hands to his mouth and slowly kisses each of Kurt's fingers in turn. Blaine's eyes are barely open, turned down to look at Kurt's slender fingers, and his long eyelashes brush against his cheeks. Kurt blushes a little at the intimacy of the gesture. Once he has finished kissing Kurt's fingers Blaine finally releases his hands but Kurt immediately laces the fingers of his right hand with those of Blaine's left. Blaine looks up into Kurt's eyes and smiles softly. "I wish we could just stay here forever."

"Why would you want to stay in my apartment?" Kurt asks, a little breathless at the sudden switch of conversation.

"No, here. Right here, in the bed." Blaine bounces their intertwined hands on the mattress between them lightly.

"How would we eat?"

"We'd get food delivered."

"Right to my bed?" Kurt laughs.

"Right to your bed," Blaine insists, his smile broadening.

"I don't think they do that."

"Kurt," Blaine says, suddenly very serious, "my father is a very rich man. I think I can find someone willing to deliver food to your bed for the right price." He smiles and Kurt bursts into laughter, which only deepens Blaine's desire to never leave this bed again.

"Maybe we should set ourselves up in your bed instead and get your maid to bring us our food," Kurt teases.

"No, Rita would never agree to that," Blaine replies as though actually considering this. "Besides I like your apartment, it's like one big closet."

Kurt gives Blaine a withering look but Blaine only smiles in response.

"Well until you find someone who will agree to deliver our food we are going to have to leave the bed sometimes." Kurt insists, pushing himself up so that he is sitting with his back against the headboard.

"No." Blaine shakes his head and burrows underneath the duvet.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asks.

"Protesting." The duvet muffles Blaine's voice and there is a quiet thud that Kurt assumes is Blaine's fist hitting the mattress. Kurt rolls his eyes and slides out of the bed. Blaine's head immediately pops out from under the edge of the duvet. "Wait what are you doing?"

"Getting dressed," Kurt says as he searches one of the many rails of clothes in the room for something to wear.

"But I'm protesting."

Kurt turns to look at Blaine and he can't help but smile at his dishevelled hair and tired eyes peeking out from under the duvet. "You are a child," Kurt laughs.

"Is that why you're falling in love with me?" Blaine grins. Kurt purses his lips and turns back to his clothes.

He is already pulling on a shirt when Blaine's arms sneak around his waist, his chin coming to rest on Kurt's shoulder. "I thought you were protesting?"

"I crossed the picket line."

"I'm not getting back in bed. We need breakfast and I have things to do today."

Blaine groans and buries his face in Kurt's shoulder. The coarse stubble on his chin scratches at Kurt's skin and he shivers a little at the newness of the feeling.

"We should eat." Kurt says quietly. Blaine kisses the back of Kurt's shoulder once before pulling his hands away from Kurt's waist and Kurt doesn't stop smiling until later that morning when Blaine leaves to run errands with a promise that he will be back later to take Kurt to lunch.

* * *

><p>Blaine stares at the door in front of him, trying not to think too much about the last time he saw this door. Blaine never comes back, ever, but he has had this watch since he was fifteen and besides he has something now that he has never had before. It takes all of his effort not to turn around and run away but right when he thinks he is going to he just thinks about the past few days with Kurt. He thinks about Kurt's smile and his laugh and the pale curve of his back and he quickly knocks on the door before he can change his mind.<p>

He only has to wait a few moments before the door swings open.

"Blaine?"

"Hi Jake."

Jake looks as terrified as Blaine feels as he steps out into the hallway, partially closing the door behind him. "What are you doing here Blaine?"

As Blaine looks up into Jake's eyes, wide with unnecessary fear, he finds himself remembering all sorts of things, but the thing that sticks in his mind the most is the memory that Jake always seemed a little frightened of everything.

"My watch," Blaine answers, digging his hands into his pockets. "I left it here… before."

"Oh." Jake seems to sigh in relief but his eyes are still wide as he opens the door again and steps back into his apartment. "Yeah I put it away. Come in, I'll get it."

Blaine is apprehensive about entering the apartment again but he forces himself to follow Jake anyway.

The apartment looks slightly different to the last time that Blaine was there. It looks cleaner somehow, and there are the obvious signs that it is no longer solely the apartment of a single man; a woman's coat hanging behind the door, two pairs of high heels standing neatly next to Jake's work shoes.

Blaine stays by the door, not daring to move any further into the apartment. There may be new cushions but they are on the same old couch, and even looking at certain parts of the apartment brings back memories that Blaine would like to forget, memories that he is trying to replace with memories of his own couch and maybe, if he can clear the sketchbooks and pencils off of it, memories of Kurt's couch.

Jake heads straight to the desk by the window where he has kept Blaine's watch in a locked drawer ever since he left it there.

"I would have sent it to you," Jakes says as he brings the watch back and gives it to Blaine, "but I didn't know where you lived."

Blaine smiles as he takes the watch from Jake, their fingers brushing together lightly. His smile only gets bigger as he fastens the watch around his wrist. "That's better," he says under his breath. Jake laughs a little. Blaine looks up at him again and there is a moment where they simply look into each other's eyes and smile. Then Jake coughs lightly and they both look down. "I should go," Blaine says.

"Yeah Lisa will be back soon," Jake adds. Blaine nods and smiles up at Jake again briefly.

"Thanks for holding onto this."

"No problem." Jake shrugs. "I figured you'd be back for it eventually. I remember you saying that you'd had it for a long time."

"Well thanks." Blaine starts to move towards the door but Jake stops him.

"Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Did you… did you find him? Your Soul Mate?"

"What makes you think that?"

Jake shrugs. "You just seem… happier."

Blaine smiles to himself before looking back up at Jake. "Yes," he says, thinking of Kurt, "I think I did."

As soon as the door closes behind him Blaine falls against the wall next to it and simply breathes for a few moments. He barely has time to think about how grateful he is that the entire thing had not been more awkward when his phone rings. His face lights up when he sees that it is Kurt phoning him.

"Missing me already?"

"I'm sorry I found this number in my phone but I just can't remember anyone with this name. Have we met?"

"Yep. I'm the guy you're falling in love with."

"Oh right. I just called to let you know I'm running away to the kitchen."

"You promised you wouldn't!"

"You crossed the picket line."

"Why did you really call?" Blaine laughs.

"This jacket is taking far longer than expected and I promised Finn I'd pick up a book for him to give mom for her birthday. Would you mind dropping into the store and picking it up on your way back here?"

"Of course not," Blaine says, thinking it better that Kurt not know that he is currently only two streets over from Kurt's own apartment.

"Thank you. I already called the store and Miranda's holding a copy back for me so all you have to do is go and pick it up from her."

"Sure. See you in a little while."

"Bye."

* * *

><p>When Blaine arrives at the bookstore he goes straight to Miranda's office and finds her in there unpacking a box of new books.<p>

"Hello," he says as he peeks around the office door.

Miranda smiles up at him, her eyebrows raised slightly. "Hello Blaine. We missed you yesterday, thought maybe you were sick when you didn't show up this morning."

"Sorry about that," Blaine says, smirking a little. "Kurt sent me to pick up a book that you put back for him."

"Kurt sent you?" Miranda asks, reaching into one of her desk drawers. "So you've been with Kurt while you haven't been here?"

"That would be telling," Blaine says as he makes his way over to the desk.

Miranda laughs as she holds the book out to him. "Here you go."

Blaine reaches for the book but as he looks down at it he sees the books in the box on Miranda's desk, the ones that she had been unpacking when he entered the room. His smile disappears completely and the colour drains from his face as he instead picks up one of the books from the box.

"Are you OK?" Miranda asks, noticing that Blaine's hands are shaking and he has now gone completely pale.

Blaine shakes his head. "What are these?" he asks, holding the book up in front of her.

"New stock." She shrugs. "Some crime thriller. They just arrived today. Maybe you should sit down Blaine, you don't look very good."

"Are these all of them?" Blaine asks. There is an intensity in the way that he is looking at her now that both worries Miranda and scares her a little bit.

"Yes. Blaine I really think you should sit down."

Blaine immediately begins putting all of the books on the desk back into the box.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm buying them," he says as he continues to throw all of the books into the box, his hands still shaking.

"What?"

"All of them, I'll buy them all, whatever price you want."

"Blaine I don't understand, please, just sit down a minute."

"How much will it be?"

"Blaine." Miranda lays one hand on Blaine's shoulder and as he looks into her eyes she is sure that she sees fear in his own. "What's wrong?"

"Kurt can't see these books," Blaine tells her and his voice catches in his throat. "He can't ever see this book. You have to let me buy them all and you have to promise me that you won't order any more. I'll pay you whatever you want but please, he can never see this book." Blaine is begging now and Miranda has no idea what to do, she has never seen him look this vulnerable before and the more upset he seems, the more troubling she finds it.

"Blaine I can't promise anything until you tell me why."

"Because," Blaine picks up the box full of books and clutches it close to his chest. "The author is my Soul Mate."

* * *

><p>There is a knock on the door as Kurt is almost finishing up his jacket. He sighs as he goes to answer it, mentally preparing himself for whatever strange joke Blaine is going to make when he opens the door. The more time that Kurt spends with Blaine, the stranger Blaine's sense of humour seems to get. However Kurt is incredibly surprised to find that the person standing on the other side of the door is not Blaine at all.<p>

"Dad?"

"Hey Kurt." Kurt's dad immediately pulls his son into a hug and surprised as he is Kurt can't help but fall into it. it has been so long since he has even seen his father.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you," Kurt says as they pull away from each other, "but what are you doing here?"

"Finn called me," Burt admits as he walks into the apartment and Kurt closes the door behind him.

"Finn?" Suddenly Kurt remembers the phone call the day before and how Blaine had interrupted him talking with his brother. "Oh God."

"He was a little worried," Burt says, pushing aside a few of Kurt's things to make a space on the couch where he can sit down.

"About what exactly?" Kurt asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Now don't look at me like that," Burt says, "he was concerned. He heard a man's voice and then he says you lied to him. He's your brother he has a right to be concerned."

"I did not lie to him," Kurt insists, "I can't believe you drove all the way here just because Finn can't mind his own business."

"Don't lie to me Kurt." Burt says, "we don't lie to each other, we never have."

Kurt looks down at his father and his resolve softens a little because this is completely true. Throughout Kurt's entire life he has never once lied to his father and as far as he knows his father has never lied to him either. "I'm not lying," Kurt says as he perches on the edge of the couch next to Burt.

"This guy that Finn heard you talking to, you seeing him?"

Kurt let out a long breath. It was so typical of his father to get straight to the point like this.

"Yes."

"You slept with him?"

"Dad!"

"Kurt."

"Yes."

"You use protection?"

"Oh my God yes."

"Good. What's his name?"

"Blaine Anderson. He's from Westerville. I met him at the bookstore."

"Westerville, Ohio?"

"Yes. He went to Dalton Academy."

"Huh. Small world." Both Hummel men relaxed slightly now that the awkward questions seemed to be out of the way. "Well it's not like I never expected it. If anything I'm surprised it took so long, you saw how many girls Finn dated before he and Rachel really got together. I am surprised though Kurt. You've waited so long for Tobias. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Kurt nods.

"And what about when one of you meets your Soul Mate?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kurt says, repeating Blaine's own words.

"It's not going to be easy," Burt tells him. Kurt smiles, as if he isn't already painfully aware of that fact.

"Can I ask you something?" Kurt straightens his back and fidgets with his hands the way that he always does when he's nervous.

"Of course."

"Do you ever wonder if, maybe, a person could have more than one Soul Mate?" Burt looks worried but Kurt continues anyway, needing to say everything he has been thinking. "I mean, mom was your Soul Mate but you love Carole, right?"

"Of course I do."

"So do you ever wonder if maybe it's possible that Carole is your Soul Mate too?"

Burt seems to think for a while before answering very carefully. "I've wondered yeah. Of course I have. I love your mother and Carole and I always will. But Kurt, you need to be sure of whatever you do. As long as you're happy I will always support your decisions, you know that, and when you were ten years old and The Matchmaker came to tell you your Soul Mate's name I didn't care whose name it was so long as there was a name. I just want you to be happy and loved, that's all I've ever wanted."

"I am," Kurt says, tears blurring his vision as he tries not to let them fall.

"I can see that," Burt promises him.

There is another knock at the door and Kurt exhales shakily and wipes the tears from his eyes. "That'll be him. We're meant to be going out to lunch, I'll ask him to come back later."

"No, that's alright," Burt says, standing up from the couch, "I should be going anyway."

"You literally just got here."

"I've got things to do at home. Some conversations just have to be had in person no matter how short they are." Burt shrugs and pulls his son into another hug. "Now, let's meet this boy then."

Kurt rolls his eyes and pulls the door open. "Blaine," he says before Blaine can do or say anything embarrassing, "this is my dad."

Blaine looks a little shocked as he enters the apartment to find Burt standing behind his son.

"Hello Mr Hummel," he says as he reaches out to shake Burt's hand, "I'm Blaine Anderson."

"You can call me Burt."

"It's very nice to meet you Burt. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll come back later." Blaine passes Carole's book to Kurt and makes his way towards the door again.

"Don't worry about it, I'm leaving anyway," Burt says, clapping his hand on Blaine's shoulder as he makes his way past him. "Kurt I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Yep, see you then," Kurt smiles.

Burt looks down at Blaine for a moment and then over at Kurt and finally back to Blaine. "You're more than welcome to come along too, Blaine," Burt says.

"Come along to what?" Blaine asks, glancing between both Hummels in front of him.

"It's mom's birthday in a couple of weeks time, everyone's getting together to celebrate," Kurt explains before adding to his father, "are you sure no one will mind?"

"Of course not," Burt promises, "we'd be more than happy."

"Well thank you very much Burt," Blaine says, "I'll check my schedule and get Kurt to let you know if I'm able to come along."

"I'll put you down as a definite," Burt insists. "See you both then."

"Bye dad, love you."

"Love you too Kurt. Bye Blaine."

"Bye."

Kurt closes the door behind his father and exhales loudly. "You don't have to come," he says to Blaine.

"No, I want to," Blaine insists planting a quick kiss on Kurt's lips.

"Are you OK?" Kurt asks. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine," Blaine says with a smile that looks just a little bit too forced.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the next few weeks Kurt goes through various stages of coping with the idea of Blaine meeting his family. At first he seems fine with the idea but he then spends an entire week trying to convince Blaine that he will hate everyone and have an awful time, even going so far as to insist that no one will approve of him and that Finn and Puck may even be inclined to beat him up, and then getting entirely infuriated when Blaine informs him that even if that were true he couldn't possibly refuse the invitation because that would be rude to Kurt's father. There are two days where Kurt attempts to ignore Blaine, hoping that this will annoy Blaine so much that he will no longer want to go to Ohio with him, but this has almost no effect on Blaine and Kurt eventually gives up when Blaine kisses him on the cheek and wishes him goodnight with a smile before practically skipping out of the bookstore alone at the end of the second day. Eventually, as the trip grows nearer, Kurt's excitement at seeing his family again overtakes any worries he has about them meeting Blaine, which Blaine is very happy about because it means he gets to stop having to think of the best way to counter Kurt's methods to try and dissuade him from going, and he can instead concentrate on keeping Kurt away from anything to do with Richard Matheson. Which, it turns out, is actually easier than he thought it would be.

Miranda agreed immediately to letting Blaine buy the books and not ordering any more, but only because it is Richard's first book and she finds it unlikely that many people will be specifically asking for it, although she did make it clear that should it become popular she will have no choice but to restock. Blaine agreed, hoping that by then he will have figured out what to tell Kurt. Blaine also told Janice everything and she agreed to help in any way that she can. Luckily for Blaine, Richard's publishers do not seem to be particularly keen on advertising the book, although after having stayed up all night to read the entire thing Blaine can hardly blame them.

He fought with himself for almost a week about whether he even should read it or not but in the end he had decided that he really had to and so he had made an excuse with Kurt and spent the evening reading Richard's book. The plot was standard, the characters were two-dimensional, the dialogue was unnatural, and Blaine had figured out who the killer was before the end of the seventh chapter. Overall he was left unimpressed and thoroughly happy about it. If it had been a very good book it may have made him feel a little guilty for asking Miranda not to sell it but as it is he feels perfectly fine with keeping the box hidden in one of his kitchen cupboards.

By the time they finally reach the day of their trip Blaine is beginning to feel like a character in an Edgar Allen Poe story, but instead of the sound of his victim's heartbeat through the floorboards he can feel the gaze of the overly-tanned model on the cover of the books, glaring at him through the door of the cupboard under his kitchen sink while he tries to convince Kurt that everything will be fine and he will love Kurt's family and they will love him and Kurt just needs to calm down, while also trying to keep Kurt away from the kitchen. When they finally set off in Kurt's car Blaine thinks that he has never felt so relieved in his life, which is not a feeling that he has ever gotten before when travelling back to Ohio.

"If you want," Kurt says when they are almost half way to Ohio, "I could drop you off at your parents house and come pick you up later?"

"No thank you." Blaine laughs. "I'm not scheduled to make an appearance until Christmas."

Kurt studies Blaine for a moment from the corner of his eye. "You never talk about your parents."

"There isn't really much to talk about." Blaine shrugs. "I stay out of their hair, visit twice a year on Christmas and mom's birthday, and dad gives me all the money I need."

"Don't you ever miss them?"

"I miss mom sometimes, I gave up on missing dad a long time ago."

The ease with which Blaine talks about this almost worries Kurt a little. He's so matter-of-fact about it, not at all embarrassed, and it doesn't really seem as though it bothers him all that much, but there is a tightness to his voice that let's Kurt know that this is not entirely true.

"You know-"

"Kurt," Blaine interrupts, "I'm sorry but do you mind if we talk about something else?"

"Of course," Kurt says hurriedly, "sorry."

There is a part of Blaine that wants to tell Kurt everything, every problem he has ever had with his father, but he is too used to keeping it to himself. He has already told Kurt far more than he's ever told anyone else and the idea of opening up and sharing all of his problems is absolutely terrifying.

"Tell me about your family," Blaine suggests, "they're the ones we're going to be spending the weekend with. Tell me about your mom."

"Oh," Kurt laughs a little uncomfortably, "well I guess the first thing I should tell you is that she isn't technically my mom."

"Technically?"

"She's my step-mom, Finn's my step-brother. My mom died when I was a kid and Finn's dad died when he was just a baby. Dad and Carole got married while Finn and I were in high school."

"So they're not-"

"They're not soul mates. No." Blaine isn't sure what to say and after a beat of slightly awkward silence Kurt launches into further explanation. "It's not as unusual as people think actually, widows getting remarried, they even have dating groups and things in some places."

Blaine nods, keeping his mouth firmly shut. He definitely knows about the dating groups for widows, and in particular the one for young widows that meets on the third Friday of every month in the community centre a few blocks away from Kurt's neighbourhood.

Not that he has attended more than a few meetings, he's not big on lying, but there were a couple of times when he was feeling particularly lonely and he just sort of wound up there. If there is one thing in his life that he is ashamed of, that is most certainly it.

"It's not just a company thing though," Kurt assures Blaine quickly, "not for dad and Carol anyway. They really love each other. They're happy."

Kurt's smile is softer than Blaine has ever seen it and if this is a glimpse of how happy Kurt will be for the entire weekend then Blaine is certain that he will enjoy spending time with Kurt's family far more than he has ever enjoyed spending time with his own.

* * *

><p>They pull up to the house, which is quite a bit larger than Blaine had expected given the size of Kurt's apartment, and there is a small brunette woman in a sundress running out of the front door and down the drive before Kurt has even stopped the car.<p>

"I am so sorry," Kurt says as the car rolls to a stop.

Blaine turns to look at Kurt, confusion etched across his features. "What for?"

"Hi!" The door on Blaine's side of the car swings open and he jumps as a pair of tiny arms reach into the car to hug him. He has not even undone his seatbelt yet and already he is being hugged. Blaine thinks that this could not possibly be more different than the family reunions that he is used to. "You must be Blaine!" the woman pulls away from him but keeps her hands on his shoulders, taking a good long look at his face. "He's cute," she says, leaning around Blaine to look at Kurt. "I'm Rachel."

"Hi Rachel," Blaine says as he is finally allowed to move enough to undo his seatbelt. "It's so nice to meet you at last, Kurt's told me a lot about you."

"All good I hope," she says as she pulls him out of the car. Blaine stumbles after her up the drive, amazed at how quickly she can walk on such short legs.

"Not even a little bit," Kurt calls after them. "Am I supposed to carry the bags in by myself?"

"Don't be silly," Rachel calls back, "Finn and Burt will help you with them later, now come on, Holly hasn't stopped talking about you all morning."

Blaine hears the car door slam behind them and as Rachel's hand grips tighter onto his own the slamming of the door sounds far more final and ominous than it should. It has been a long time since Blaine last came to Ohio and there is an unsettling feeling in his stomach. He hasn't even entered the house yet and already he feels more welcome than he has ever felt in his own home.

"Hold on a second, Rachel." Blaine can hear the annoyance in Kurt's voice and it makes him more than a little curious. Kurt had warned him that Rachel could be a little difficult but he had also insisted that Rachel was his best friend in the whole world anyway. Right now it just sounds like he wants to hit her and they haven't even been here for more than five minutes yet.

"Kurt." Rachel stops suddenly and Blaine almost trips over his own feet. "You are much taller than both of us, you could easily have caught up with us if you walked a little faster."

"That is not the point Rachel." Kurt sounds almost vicious when he says her name and it's a new side to Kurt that Blaine has definitely never seen before.

That isn't to say that he is not appreciating it.

Kurt walks the rest of the way up the drive towards them at his usual pace and Blaine can actually feel Rachel growing impatient.

"It has been months since you last saw me," Kurt says as he finally reaches them, "and you haven't even said hello to me yet."

Rachel rolls her eyes and lets go of Blaine's hand to pull Kurt into a hug. Blaine notices Kurt smile but then immediately stop himself, as though the smile was completely involuntary. "And if you wouldn't mind," he says as they pull away from each other, "I would like to introduce Blaine to our family myself."

"Oh." Rachel nods and Blaine is sure that she almost looks embarrassed, "right, sorry, I'm working on the whole controlling thing," she promises.

Kurt rolls his eyes. "Come on." He hooks one hand through the crook of Rachel's elbow and laces the fingers of his other hand with Blaine's own.

As soon as they step through the front door Kurt relaxes, he's home, no matter how long he stays away he is sure that he will always feel that immediate rush of familiarity, of family, as soon as he enters their house. He feels like a teenager again though, suddenly he can't wait to give Blaine the tour, to introduce him to Carole and Finn, to show him his bedroom, to maybe make out a little in the kitchen when his parents are elsewhere. All of which is completely ridiculous since he never actually got to do any of those things with a boy when he was a teenager. Maybe, he thinks, this is what being a teenager should have felt like. He'd have to ask Finn.

"Where is Finn?" Kurt asks aloud as he hangs his and Blaine's coats up in the hall closet. He notices Blaine eying up the size of the closet and shoots him a look that, if the grin on Blaine's face is any indication, definitely gets across the desired message of no, we will not be making out in my parents' hall closet.

"He and Puck have gone out to get some last minute emergency supplies for the party tomorrow."

"Oh. Is anyone else staying here tonight?" he asks, pulling Blaine towards the stairs. Rachel skips up behind them.

"Just us and Puck. He's been staying with us and he didn't want to stay at the house by himself. He's anxious about seeing Quinn again."

"Where's he sleeping?"

"In the guest room."

"Oh good," Kurt lets out a little laugh, "I was a little worried that dad was going to try and put Blaine in the guest room."

"Oh um." They reach the top of the stairs and Rachel bites her lower lip a little. "About that."

Kurt's expression instantly turns to stone and Blaine is a little alarmed at the ferocity with which Kurt storms to the other end of the hall. Rachel shrugs and they follow Kurt to his bedroom.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Kurt exclaims. Blaine leans around Kurt to see what the problem is and immediately grins.

"A camp bed? Awesome. It's been years since I slept on one of those."

"This is not funny." Kurt glowers at him but Blaine only smiles wider.

"Who's joking?" Blaine teases, "I love camping."

"Where is he?" Kurt asks, rounding on Rachel.

"In the kitchen."

He knows it's inappropriate but as he and Rachel follow Kurt back through the house and into the kitchen Blaine can't help but think about how great this weekend already is. He is fairly certain that he will never forget how solid Kurt's jaw looks when he's angry. They've only been here five minutes and he has already seen more sides to Kurt than he ever saw while they were in the city.

"Dad," Kurt calls as they enter the kitchen.

"Kurt!" Blaine looks at Kurt's father and his breath catches in his throat. Burt looks so happy to see his son. It stings a little. Blaine is sure that his father has never looked at him that way, with so much joy. "Blaine, nice to see you again." They shake hands and this hurts even more because now Burt is looking at him in the same way. They've met once before and already Burt is looking at him as though he is part of the family.

"You too Mr Hummel."

"Please, call me Burt."

"Dad, why is there a camp bed in my bedroom?" Kurt crosses his arms and Burt simply rolls his eyes.

"Kurt."

"Dad."

"_Kurt._" Kurt continues to glare and eventually Burt sighs before explaining."There is a camp bed in your room because Blaine will be needing something to sleep on." Kurt opens his mouth to protest but Burt carries on regardless, clearly used to these sorts of conversations. "I didn't let Rachel and Finn sleep in the same bed when they were dating, it wouldn't be fair for me to treat you any differently."

"Finn and Rachel were still in high school when they were dating dad, I'm not a teenager."

"Yeah, I know, and if you'd stop yelling at me for five minutes you might notice that the camp bed is in your room." Kurt blinks. "Rachel used to sleep in the guest room."

Kurt unfolds his arms and his entire face changes slowly as he realises what his father means by this last statement.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"OK then." Kurt swings his arms a little, clearly embarrassed.

"Just let me pretend, OK?" Burt smiles the sad, weary smile of a parent being forced to admit that their son is finally an adult. It's like a knife through Blaine's heart.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day is more perfect than Kurt could ever have imagined. Finn tries to play the over-protective brother at first but then it comes up in conversation that Blaine is really interested in football and so Puck and Finn and Blaine and Burt talk about football while Blaine bounces Holly on his knee and lets her play with his sunglasses and Rachel and Kurt and Carole finish preparing dinner and by the time they've all eaten everyone is best friends and Kurt could only be happier if Blaine and Rachel maybe got on just a little <em>less<em> well.

"So?" Kurt asks as he and Blaine load the dishwasher.

"So?"

"What do you think?"

"About the house? It's beautiful."

"No, not the house, my family."

"Is Puck actually related to you in any way?"

"He's Finn's best friend," Kurt shrugs as though this is actually an answer. Blaine thinks that maybe this actually is an answer. There is so much love in this house and everyone is already treating him like family so it doesn't surprise him at all that Carole and Burt would accept their sons' friends as actual members of the family.

"Everyone's great." Blaine smiles. He really means it, everyone is wonderful and he can't wait to meet the rest of Kurt's friends, family, tomorrow.

"You seem a little off," Kurt says, "this isn't about the camp bed is it?"

Blaine grins. "You mean the camp bed that your father put in your room so that we can all pretend that I'm not going to sleep in your bed tonight?"

"Yes," Kurt rolls his eyes, "that camp bed."

"No," Blaine laughs, "it's not about the camp bed… I think I might go and visit my parents this evening, if that's OK."

"Of course it is," Kurt smiles, relieved. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No," Blaine replies immediately. "I don't want my father anywhere near you. No, I won't be gone long, just a couple of hours, I'll be back before Holly's even in bed."

Kurt moves closer and takes both of Blaine's hands in his own. Blaine looks up at Kurt and wishes that he didn't have to do what he is about to, he wishes that he didn't have to go and talk to his father, that he could just stay here in this warm, loving house, and forget about his own family, like he had planned to do. But he knows that he has to go, and it's Kurt who has given him the courage to do it at last.

"Are you sure?" Kurt asks, "I could just drive you there and wait in the car?"

Blaine shakes his head. He can't have Kurt anywhere near his home or his parents, not after having seen how wonderful Kurt's home is. "I'll just call a cab."

"Take my car," Kurt offers. He kisses Blaine lightly on the lips and it's that domesticity again that Blaine wants so much but knows that they will never have. "The keys are in my coat pocket. I'll finish up here."

"Thank you." Blaine heads towards the door but turns around at the last moment. "I'll be right back, I promise."

"Holly goes to bed at eight," Kurt grins. "You have an hour."

They both know that that isn't actually possible but Blaine really wishes it were as he fishes the keys out of Kurt's coat pocket and heads for the car.

* * *

><p>Blaine sits in Kurt's car, outside his parents' house, for twelve minutes before getting out. He doesn't want to be there, he doesn't want to tell his parents anything, but he has to. It's not that he owes them anything, or at least he doesn't owe his father anything, it's damage control, it's making sure that they hear about it from him instead of putting it together by themselves. It's courtesy.<p>

Even after getting out of the car he stands outside of it for four more minutes, staring up at the house that is far too large for only the three of them to ever have needed, before he can make himself walk up the driveway and ring the bell.

As he is standing there, waiting for someone to open the door, Blaine thinks that there is probably still time for him to run away. It's a big house, if they're in one of the far rooms then he'd have plenty of time to run back to the car and drive off, they wouldn't even open the door until he was already backing out of the driveway, and it's so dark out that they wouldn't even be able to see that it was him in the car.

"Blaine?"

"Mom." Blaine smiles as his mother pulls him towards her for one of her delicate hugs. He grips onto the back of her sweater set and breathes in her stupidly expensive perfume and he's so grateful that she answered the door instead of his father so that he could have these few moments with her first without him ruining it as he is bound to do.

"Come in, come in." She ushers him into the foyer and he can't smell her perfume anymore and suddenly he's back to wanting to run away. The house is like a museum and even though he's an adult now he is still afraid to touch anything. "We weren't expecting you."

"No, I was just over in Lima with a friend and I thought since I was in the state I should-"

"A friend?"

Of course, Blaine thinks, of course he would not be allowed to have more than a few minutes alone with the one parent who would be glad to see him.

"Hello, dad." Blaine's father does not hug him and Blaine is both unsurprised and entirely grateful. They shake hands and Blaine tries to hold a firm grip but he's already nervous.

"Is there something wrong?"

Blaine flinches a little and digs his hands into his pockets before immediately removing them again, remembering that his father didn't like him to do that. It's so like his father to get straight to the point, this isn't one of their scheduled social visits so of course something must be wrong, heaven forbid a son should want to see his parents.

"No, nothing's wrong exactly, I just have a few things to tell you."

His father motions towards his office, and Blaine follows him there while his mom goes to make them coffee.

"So, what do you have to tell me?" his father asks as he sits down behind his desk, wasting no time at all. Blaine is unsure how to do this, should he stand, sit, lean awkwardly with one foot out of the door for easy getaway? Eventually he decides to sit.

"Should we wait for mom?"

"Does it affect her?"

"I guess not."

They stare at each other for a moment. Blaine knows that he isn't exactly a huge guy but he only ever feels small when he is under his father's gaze.

"Is this to do with this 'friend' you're here with?"

"Partly."

"Oh Blaine," his father snaps. It is the first time since Blaine has entered the house that his father has shown any kind of emotion. It is sort of terrifying. Blaine thinks of Kurt, Kurt and his family all sat at the house. Probably Kurt is telling them about him, maybe he's laughing about the closet thing with Rachel, or telling Carole about the time that Blaine almost set his kitchen on fire because he tried to cook Kurt breakfast in bed but he knocked something on the counter and a whole roll of fabric fell onto Kurt's stupidly old-fashioned stove and caught alight. "Would you please just spit it out, whatever it is, I have other things to do."

"You know," Blaine says quietly, "Some fathers make time for their sons."

"Some sons do not turn up unannounced in the middle of the night."

"I found Richard," Blaine says, ripping off the band-aid, hoping to get out sooner.

His father's mouth audibly snaps shut. His lips disappear into a thin line and Blaine thinks that if looks could kill then his mom would be phoning the police right now.

"You did?"

"Well, sort of. He's an author."

"And have you met him?"

"No."

"Then how do you know that it's him?"

Blaine sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I just know. Look I'm only telling you because I didn't want you to hear his name or see the book or anything and think that I was hiding it from you."

"Have you contacted him?"

"Not yet."

"But you will?"

"Of course."

There is silence then and it is as far from comfortable as silence can get. Blaine is almost afraid to look up. He thinks of Kurt, he thinks of Holly, of Kurt braiding her beautiful brown hair, while Rachel tells him all about her plans to start performing again as soon as Holly is old enough to go to school full time.

"I suppose we'll have to organise the wedding, seeing as there is no father of the bride to pay for it."

And suddenly Blaine longs for the silence to return.

"I'm not marrying him." Blaine tries to remain calm. "I will be contacting him to tell him that."

"Don't be ridiculous," his father spits out, as though the words are razorblades, cutting his throat. "I've let you have your fun but now you have to grow up and settle down. That's how it works."

"Well that's not how I work."

"This isn't how things are done, Blaine!"

"I don't care! I don't love him, I don't even know him." Blaine's father clicks his tongue impatiently, which only makes Blaine angrier. "I am in love with someone else and I don't care if he leaves me for his soul mate, that's his choice, but I won't leave him for someone I've never even met."

"Blaine! It is bad enough that we've had to get used to the idea of you being-"

"Of me being gay?" Blaine jumps up from the seat as though it has electrocuted him, and all of a sudden he can't stand to be in this house anymore. "Because I am, dad," he shouts, "and not just because some crackpot Matchmaker told me so."

"How dare you," his father shouts, even louder. "How dare you come into my house uninvited and talk to me like that."

"It's my house too dad." And suddenly Blaine is struck with the very heavy realisation that it isn't, that it never has been his house.

"You are an adult, it is time for you to start acting like one."

"Yes, I am an adult." Blaine isn't yelling anymore. There are tears pricking at his eyes and a lump in the back of his throat and he doesn't think he could yell anymore even if he wanted to. "I am an adult and I will make my own decisions."

"After everything I've done for you, are you so determined to disgrace this family like this?"

"Everything you've done?" It comes out broken and Blaine is so angry at himself for letting it. "You pay me to stay away from you, your only son."

"Well if that's how you see it then I suppose you won't want my money-"

"You know what, dad? I really don't."

Blaine storms out of the office just as his mother is coming back from the kitchen with a tray of coffee cups. His heart breaks all over again at the look on her face, the slow realisation of what is happening.

"Blaine Anderson you come back here right now!" His father bellows as he follows him back into the foyer.

"No dad, I'm done with this. You want me to be an adult? Well this is me being an adult, telling you that I have found Richard and I intend to let him know that I'm already in love with someone else."

"This is insane!"

"Maybe it is, but I don't care anymore. You've never cared about me, you only care about how I make you look and when you realised that I didn't match with what you wanted you shipped me away." The tears are falling now and he's equal parts angry at his father and angry at himself.

"I pay your bills while you gallivant around, taking advantage of confused men-"

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore." Blaine wrenches open the front door. He wishes he could say goodbye to his mom, he hates that he's doing this to her. He should never have even come.

"If you leave this house right now," Blaine's father sounds calm all of a sudden and it's far scarier than the yelling. "Don't ever bother coming back."

Blaine turns and takes one last look at the marble floor, the vases that are only ever touched by goose feather dusters, his father in his crisp business suit. "What the hell makes you think I would want to?" He asks before slamming the door shut.

"Stupid idea," he mutters to himself as he climbs back into Kurt's car. He makes it out of the driveway and around the corner before he has to pull over. He doesn't just cry, he screams, and he punches the shit out of Kurt's dashboard, and then he screams again. He should never have gone, he thinks, he should have left it alone, why did he suddenly think that his dad might care about what was happening now when he'd never shown any sign of it before?

He screams again.

* * *

><p>"Blaine?" Kurt looks up at the sound of the door opening but Blaine rushes past the living room doorway and up the stairs without saying anything. Kurt glances at Rachel, who only raises her eyebrows in response. "I'll be right back."<p>

Blaine is sitting on the edge of Kurt's bed when Kurt opens the door to his old room.

"Are you OK?" He asks. Blaine looks up and his face is wet with tears, his eyes red and swollen, and suddenly nothing else exists in Kurt's world. He wants nothing more than to make the pain go away, however he can, and nothing else will ever matter again until Blaine stops crying. "What happened?"

Blaine shakes his head, he can't talk about, won't talk about it. There's too much, he'd have to leave things out anyway and he doesn't want to lie to Kurt anymore than he already is. Besides, he still needs to sort it all out in his own head.

Kurt puts his hand under Blaine's chin, tilts his head back until he's looking up at Kurt. The heartbreak in Blaine's eyes feels like a weight crushing Kurt. He is sure that he can feel his own heart breaking in response. "Talk to me," he says, ever so quietly.

Blaine's eyes search his. Kurt doesn't know what he's searching for but he hopes that he finds it here.

"My dad," Blaine chokes out, his voice ragged and wet. "He doesn't want anything more to do with me. Ever." A new wave of sobs takes over and Blaine's head falls back into his hands, hiding his face away.

"Come on." Kurt pushes him gently so that he is lying on the bed. He pulls off Blaine's shoes and then crawls into the bed next to him. It's all he can think to do, just to put his arms around Blaine and hold him there until the tears stop.

Eventually Blaine's breathing starts to even out, his body stops jerking involuntarily with every sob. The tears still don't stop.

"Do you want to go back home?" Kurt asks quietly, brushing Blaine's hair back from his tear-stained face. Blaine shakes his head.

"We can't, your mom's birthday-"

"She'll understand."

"No." Blaine thinks back to the look on his mom's face when he left her standing in the foyer, holding the tray of coffees. "I couldn't do that to her."

"OK." Kurt sighs. He just wants to fix this, but he doesn't know how. He's never seen Blaine so upset before, he's never seen anyone so upset before, he doesn't know what to do, how to handle it, but right now he wants to fix this more than he wants anything else in the world. "What can I do?"

Blaine sniffs. "Just don't go anywhere."

Kurt grips him tighter, pulling him in so that Blaine's head is nestled underneath his own chin, so that there isn't even an inch of space between them. "Never."

* * *

><p>The next morning Kurt wakes up alone, still wearing yesterday's clothes. Ordinarily he would freak out about having creased his shirt beyond repair and not having completed his nightly skin care routine before going to sleep, but the only thing in his mind is the image of Blaine crying and that's still the only thing that matters. He doesn't even change clothes before racing downstairs.<p>

He stops, surprised, in the kitchen doorway. He had been worried that Blaine had left, got a cab or something else equally ridiculous, and gone home already, he had rushed downstairs to ask if anyone had seen him leave. He was not expecting to find Blaine sitting in the kitchen making macaroni necklaces with Holly and Puck while Rachel made pancakes.

"Morning." Rachel smiles when she sees Kurt, but she has this little wrinkle between her eyebrows that she gets sometimes when she's confused, she has noticed the clothes.

Blaine turns around and grins at Kurt. This is so not what Kurt had been expecting after last night. "Hey." Blaine slides down from his stool and walks over to Kurt. "Good morning." He kisses Kurt on the cheek and when he pulls away Kurt grabs onto his hand, questioning.

"Good morning?" Blaine isn't sure how exactly Kurt manages so well to make this a question but clearly that's just another one of the seemingly endless things that Kurt is capable of.

"Be right back," Blaine says to Rachel and Puck. Rachel waves her spatula at them and Blaine pulls Kurt out into the hallway.

"When I woke up this morning and you were gone…" Kurt looks down, embarrassed for even having thought it, "I thought you had left." He looks back up again and Blaine looks just as embarrassed as Kurt feels.

"I'm sorry about last night. I wish you hadn't had to see that."

"I want to, Blaine," Kurt squeezes his hand tighter, "I want to know what's going on with you, even the bad stuff."

Blaine smiles. Kurt can't possibly know how much that means to him, and somehow that makes it mean even more. "It's not all that bad." He shrugs. "Mom called this morning. She's calmed dad down a little and convinced him not to empty my bank accounts. I don't think he'll be putting anything else in there though." He sighs. "I'll have to get a job."

Kurt laughs a little. "You already have a job, we'll just tell Miranda she needs to pay you now."

"I won't be able to afford my apartment anymore." Blaine's smile fades but it is almost immediately overtaken by another look, one that usually means Kurt is about to be pulled into a closet. "One person could never afford my apartment on that salary," he says, a strange teasing tone to his voice. "But two people could."

Kurt's breath stops in his throat.

"Move in with me."

"We still couldn't afford it, even with two of us." Kurt's voice is quiet; he is still trying to remember how to breathe.

"Sure we could," Blaine insists, getting excited now, "dad pays everything upfront at the beginning of the year, we wouldn't have to pay a thing until January, and by then, with what I already have saved, between the two of us we'd have enough to pay for another year, easy."

"But, I-"

"Kurt." Suddenly Blaine's voice is softer again. Kurt immediately stops talking, stops thinking even, just listening. "I know that we might not have that much time together, and that's OK. I just want to make the most of the time that we do have. I want to spend every single moment with you while I still can."

It takes Kurt just a few seconds to remember why they might not have much time together, to remember why they can't make big plans for the future. And that's enough. Those few seconds it takes to remember, showing him that he had forgotten. Those few seconds give him his answer.

"OK."

"OK?"

"OK."

Blaine actually picks Kurt up and swings him around in a circle. Kurt squeals to be put down and when Blaine complies they're both laughing.

"What's going on?" Finn asks. They both turn to see Finn standing at the bottom of the stairs and neither of them is sure when he got there.

"I'm moving in with Blaine." There's a tone in Kurt's voice that clearly says that this is not to be discussed, but Blaine is pretty sure that it will be anyway.

"Dude," Finn looks at Blaine nervously before directing his attention back to Kurt. For the first time all weekend Blaine feels as though he shouldn't be here. "You like just met."

"Well," Kurt squeezes Blaine's hand again, it's OK, "we don't know how much time we'll have together. We want to make the most of it."

"Does dad know about this?"

"No. It literally just happened." Kurt thinks back to his conversation with his dad, about Carole, and about his mom. "I think he'll be OK with it."

Finn fidgets a little, looking between the two of them.

"Just be careful, OK," he almost whispers, "I don't want you to get hurt. You know what happened with Puck and Quinn."

"Yes," Kurt replies in the same voice, "but neither of us is going to get pregnant."

Finn huffs his way into the kitchen and Kurt smiles, obviously pleased with himself.

"Are you really sure about this?" Blaine asks, "maybe Finn's right."

"Finn's never right," Kurt promises, "Finn has many wonderful qualities but being right is not one of them." He turns to face Blaine fully now, needing for Blaine to understand, as much as possible, everything he means when he says this next thing. "I want to do this."

Blaine's smile is so blindly bright that Kurt can't help but wonder how this face could ever look as upset as it did last night. It doesn't look like there is any room for anything other than blinding happiness. "So do I."

They just look at each other for a few moments, without saying anything, and it's enough. They both understand. They're making their decisions. "I need to go and get changed." Kurt says suddenly. He hates to break the moment but now that Blaine is definitely not upset any more there is beginning to be space in his head for other things, like how this shirt will need to be steamed if he ever hopes to get the creases out.

"Go, go," Blaine beams, "I have a macaroni necklace to finish."

Kurt kisses him quickly. "Tell Rachel to leave me some pancakes."

Blaine waits a few moments before going back into the kitchen. He needs some time alone to think. He can't remember the last time that he felt this happy. He knows that it won't be forever, it can't be… but they can pretend, for now, they can just pretend.

He will have to burn the books under the kitchen sink.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN) I am so sorry that it has taken so long for me to update this. I've just started university again and it's all caught up on me, but I promise this story will be finished, and if you're still here then thank you so much for putting up with me. Also, just to let you know, I've changed my tumblr url since the last A/N and I can now be found at blaineshipismagic. tumblr. com. Again, thank you so much for putting up with the horrendous wait between chapters on this thing, and I just hope it was worth the wait.**


	9. A Soul Mates Winter Side Story

**A Soul Mates Winter Side Story**

(A/N) This short side story is set when Blaine and Kurt are in high school and as such does not go directly into the plot of Soul Mates at all, it mostly just exists because I wanted to write something Christmassy. Think of it as a little holiday present, from me to you! :D

* * *

><p>Kurt looks out at the snow covering everything, as the machine makes his morning coffee. School has been cancelled, Carole and Burt have gone to work, and Finn has gone back to sleep so Kurt essentially has the house to himself, at least until Finn wakes up. It's quiet, and the snow outside seems to block any possible noise. Kurt can't remember the last time he has felt so peaceful. Until, that is, he sees Rachel walking down their street.<p>

Kurt opens the front door before Rachel has even walked all the way up their path.

"Yes?" Kurt asks, leaning on the doorframe.

"Hi Kurt!" Rachel smiles, just as chipper as she always is.

"Did you want something?" Kurt asks. He hasn't even had his coffee yet and he is definitely not in the mood for the Rachel Berry Experience.

"Well I thought since we have the day off school, we should spend it together." She pushes past him into the house and by the time Kurt has closed the door she is already shrugging out of her coat.

"Oh really? And you had absolutely no ulterior motives whatsoever?" Kurt asks.

"I have no idea what you mean."

Rachel knows exactly what Kurt means. Carole and Rachel's dads are still insistent that Finn and Rachel shouldn't date until they finish high school but Finn was finding it too difficult so they decided not to spend as much time together outside of glee and school. Rachel is clearly finding this even more difficult as she has taken to coming up with any excuse to visit them, including deciding that Kurt is her new best friend, something that Kurt has definitely not agreed to. Not that he doesn't like Rachel, Kurt likes Rachel fine most of the time, but he will never tell _her_ that, it's just that he is beginning to get a little sick of being a thinly veiled excuse. Actually he is getting a little sick of the whole thing and has slowly been trying to persuade his dad and Carole to lift the ban and let Rachel and Finn start dating at last. The only obstacle in his way is Rachel's dads and he is certain that once he gets Carole to agree his dad will be able to convince them.

Then maybe Rachel will stop visiting Kurt so often and he can actually finish some of the projects that he has started. He had been planning to spend the day finishing the jacket that he's been working on but Rachel talks far too much for him to sew anything without risk of blood loss while she's around.

"Finn's still asleep." Kurt says, making his way back to the kitchen.

"Well I'm not here to see Finn." Much to Kurt's annoyance Rachel actually follows him to the kitchen instead of turning around and disappearing into the snow. "I'm here to see you," she says, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Really?" Kurt asks, pouring Rachel a cup of coffee because it's just easier to do it before she asks and then spends the day complaining that you didn't offer her a drink.

"Really. I thought we could make hot cocoa and sit by the fire and watch some movies, just the two of us." Kurt hands her the cup of coffee and Rachel stares down at it for the next part of her speech, suddenly looking incredibly shy and insecure, "I would have invited you to my house but I knew that you probably wouldn't come." She looks up again but this time her smile is a little smaller than it was before. "Anyway I figured Finn would be going sledding with Puck or something and I thought it would be nice for you and me to spend the day together."

Kurt sighs. "Fine."

"Really?"

"Sure."

Rachel literally bounces with joy. "Oh yay! This is going to be so much fun!"

"I get to pick the movies though," Kurt insists.

"Deal." Rachel beams up at him and Kurt smiles back. It really is difficult not to when she just looks so happy.

They sit in companionably silence until they hear the sound of Finn tripping down the stairs.

There is a moment where neither Kurt nor Rachel really knows what to do. Kurt considers suggesting that Rachel go and set up the TV but that feels too much like banishing her and before he can really figure out whether he should say anything or not, Finn shuffles into the kitchen, looking even more startled than he usually does in the mornings.

"Hi Rachel."

"Hi Finn."

"I didn't know you where coming round today."

There is barely even a second of uncomfortable silence before Kurt jumps in.

"I invited her." Rachel and Finn both turn to stare at Kurt with matching expressions of surprise. It's sort of intimidating. "I figured since you'd probably be spending the day indulging in vaguely dangerous winter activities with Puckerman, I could use some company. We're going to watch old movies and bake cookies."

"Oh. Cool."

The doorbell rings just as Finn grabs the nearest box of cereal.

"I'll get it." Kurt wonders, as he goes to answer the door, if he will ever get to finish his coffee this morning.

The answer, he thinks as a snowball hits him square in the face, is probably no.

"Sorry dude!" Puck laughs as Kurt wipes the snow from his face. "Thought you were Finn."

"Yes," Kurt grimaces, "I can see how you would make that mistake."

Puck is not alone. In fact he has somehow managed to get the entire McKinley High glee club to come with him. Mercedes and Sam are standing with Puck and behind them Mike and Tina are building a snowman, Santana and Brittany are making snow angels, and Quinn and Artie are laughing together while she brushes snow out of his hair. It does look fun, but Kurt was just starting to come around to the idea of spending the day watching films with Rachel.

"Come and play in the snow." Mercedes smiles at him.

"Finn!" Kurt calls, winking at the others, "Rachel! Can you come here a second?"

Kurt steps out of the line of fire while Sam and Puck quickly gather more snow.

"What is-AAH" Rachel shrieks and her hands immediately fly to cover her nose as the snow hits her.

Finn's laughter is stopped almost immediately by Sam's snowball hitting him in the face.

"This is war." Rachel warns. Kurt barely has his boots on before she is dragging him out of the door. "Boys versus girls!" she shouts.

There is excited scrambling, then negations between self-appointed team captains Rachel and Puck of safe ground and turf boundaries, then a quick huddle to discuss strategy, and finally there is utter chaos.

The boys take up a calculated formation with Puck and Sam, their most accurate throwers, at the front, Finn, their strongest thrower, directly behind them, Kurt and Mike, the fastest movers, on either side of this group, and Artie slightly behind Mike.

The girls, however, take a much more relaxed route. Their plan seems to be more along the lines of 'hit whoever you can, as hard as you can'. And it works.

Artie comes out of the entire escapade worse than anyone due to his inability to make a quick getaway on the snow and Santana's killer shot, and Kurt results as the driest purely because he spends more time dodging snowballs than throwing them. The girls win a surprisingly violent victory, and Kurt is more than happy when it's all over and they can all collapse in the living room, happy, soaked, and exhausted.

However, when he returns from gathering all of the towels that they own, and finds almost everyone snuggled up in pairs in front of the fire, he suddenly feels a lot less happy, and a lot more exhausted. He realises it doesn't make sense to feel tired by looking at this, but that's just how he feels. Everyone seems to have someone, even those who haven't found their soul mates yet, but he has no one. He does love his friends, and he is glad that they're here, all spending the day together, but he suddenly just wants to lock himself in his room and ignore everyone.

"Here are the towels." He passes the pile to Quinn, who passes them all out amongst the group. "I just have to nip to the store, I'll be right back."

"Oh, I'll come with you!" Rachel says, jumping up from her place by the fire. She hooks her hand through the crook of his elbow and steers Kurt towards the door before he can argue with her.

They're already out of the door and on their way to the store before Rachel says anything else.

"So much for our day of movies and hot cocoa."

"We can do that another time," Kurt promises. "Anyway, now you get to spend the day with Finn." Rachel sighs. "What?"

"Kurt, I know you think I'm only spending time with you so that I can get closer to Finn, but that's not true." Kurt immediately feels uncomfortable. "I want to be your friend, Kurt, and not just because we'll be brother and sister-in-law one day, but because we're a lot more similar than you think."

"Well we are both fabulous," Kurt concedes. Rachel smiles and Kurt nudges her playfully.

"Friends?" Rachel asks, hopefully.

"Friends."

Rachel basically bounces the rest of the way to the store.

"So, since we're friends now," Kurt asks, "why did you seem so keen to run to the store with me?"

Rachel sighs again. "It's difficult," she explains, "seeing everyone together; Sam and Mercedes, Brittany and Santana, even Mike and Tina, and Finn's right there and we're not even allowed to date. It's very frustrating."

"Maybe you should talk to your dads again," Kurt suggests.

"I already tried a few months ago," Rachel says, "I think they'd get kind of annoyed if I brought it up again so soon."

"Well," Kurt shrugs, "at least you know that he's here, you've found him, you know where he is. I don't even know if I'll ever meet Tobias."

"Of course you will," Rachel promises, "that's how it all works."

"I know," Kurt admits. "It's just sometimes it doesn't feel so likely." They turn a corner into the parking lot of the store. "Especially when there are couples _everywhere._"

There is a couple, about their age, kissing against the wall of the store. Kurt clicks his tongue as they approach them. "That's so undignified," he says, holding his head high as they walk past.

"Oh, you're just jealous," Rachel teases as the store's warm, stale air envelops them from the automatic doors.

"Yep." Kurt nudges her and they laugh together as they wander around the tiny store. It's the first real conversation that Kurt has had with Rachel and, though he still would never admit it to anyone, he is beginning to see that maybe she's more like him that he wanted to believe at first. He decides, as she is complaining at the lack of Hanukkah decorations in the store, that he is maybe just a little bit glad that she dropped around at the house that morning after all.

But no one will ever be able to make him admit it.

* * *

><p>"OK Anderson, here's what we're going to do," Sebastian says as he slams the door of his very expensive looking Italian car and moves over to the passenger side, where Blaine is closing the door much more carefully. It is freezing cold and Blaine has his wool hat pulled so far down over his ears that he can barely hear Sebastian over the wind signalling an incoming storm. Whatever they're doing, and Blaine has a feeling it isn't going to be entirely legal, they'll have to do it quickly or else they'll never make it back to Dalton before the snow starts again. "I'll go in first, you count to twenty and then you come in after me. Look around, pick up a couple of things, anything really, but stay near the alcohol, but don't be obvious. Then, when the guy behind the cash register asks for my ID you slip the nearest bottle of anything into that man purse of yours." Finally Sebastian's insistence that Blaine bring his school satchel makes sense. "Then you quickly, but again, not obviously, move away and pick up something else. Wait until I've left and then go up the register and pay for whatever else you've picked up. Got it?"<p>

"What if he doesn't ask for your ID?" Blaine croaks. He hopes Sebastian thinks that the croak is because it's so cold and not because Sebastian terrifies him and the idea of stealing _liquor _terrifies him even more.

"Then we won't need you to steal anything," Sebastian moves a few inches closer to Blaine and he can feel Sebastian's hot breath on his face, smelling so strongly of coffee and cigarettes and other things that are so strangely adult and foreign, "because I'll have already bought it," he finishes in an almost-whisper.

Blaine swallows the lump that has suddenly formed in his throat and nods, praying that the thick scarf wrapped around his neck will have stopped Sebastian from noticing the embarrassing gulp.

Sebastian winks and pats him on the shoulder. "Count to twenty," he repeats before turning and heading over to the store.

Blaine's grip tightens on the strap of his satchel. He counts to twenty. Slowly. He is terrified and he can't believe that he is about to do this. His father would kill him. But Sebastian is so much more mature than he is and he lived in _Paris _and Blaine wants so much to impress him but he's not really sure why. All he knows is that whenever Sebastian looks at him he feels… worthy. It's not like he's never been _wanted _before, there have been plenty of trysts in closets and dorm rooms and once in an abandoned classroom that, were he a less kind person, would come in very handy later in life when the boys he goes to school with become senators and lawyers, but it's different with Sebastian. Sebastian is better than everyone else, and he's confident, and a lot of the other boys look at him in the same way that they used to, sometimes still do, look at Blaine. The difference is that Sebastian doesn't look at them. He looks at Blaine.

Blaine gets to twenty and he has to force his legs to move they're so stiff from cold and fear, but he thinks of the way that Sebastian looked at him when Wes came running into the common room declaring "SNOW DAY" and the way that Sebastian put his hand on Blaine's arm and said, "put on your coat Anderson, and grab your man purse. We have to make a trip," and the way that Sebastian had laughed when Blaine had protested, "it's a satchel. You have one almost identical."

The air in the store is warmer but it feels stale as it hits Blaine's face. Sebastian glances at him once, barely even for a second, and then picks up a bottle of whiskey and makes his way over to the cash register.

Blaine picks up the first thing he sees, a bag of chips, and makes his way over to the alcohol, repeating the words 'don't be obvious' over and over in his head as he eyes a display of festive candy. He moves ever so slightly to the left. There are bottles of gin and vodka within reaching distance now and he's not sure which to go for, Sebastian never specified and Blaine is really only acquainted with wine and beer. Then he spots a logo that he recognises, a whiskey that he's seen before, being poured into coffee cups in Sebastian's room.

"Can I see some ID please?"

His cue.

He turns his head ever so slightly as he reaches for the bottle, _not obvious not obvious, _making sure that the guy is paying attention to Sebastian as he pats down his coat pockets in a great show. Sebastian moves ever so slightly and Blaine knows that he is trying to block Blaine from the view of the man behind the register.

"Oh man, I must have left it in my other coat!"

Blaine has his hand around the bottle now, his other hand holding his satchel open, ready.

"Yeah nice try kid," the guy behind the counter scoffs. "No ID, no sale."

Sebastian leans on the counter and Blaine knows that he is smiling at the guy conspiratorially, he knows because he has seen that smile a hundred times. "Couldn't you just let me have it? Come on, it's Christmas."

The guy leans in and it's Blaine's chance and his hands move before he even knows what he's doing and the bottle is heavy in his bag and he's picking up one of the chocolate Santas and moving quickly, but not obviously, over to the magazines.

"No ID, no sale," the man repeats. Sebastian sighs and throws his hands in the air.

"Well you can't blame a kid for trying," he shrugs and Blaine picks up the first magazine he lays his hands on. "Merry Christmas," Sebastian says before turning and leaving the store.

Blaine walks up to the register and the guy is laughing and shaking his head.

Blaine has to use all of his acting ability to remain calm and smile up at the man.

"Honestly, kid can't have been much older than you," he says as he scans the items Blaine has picked up. "You don't know him do you?" he asks, his voice curious but not yet suspicious.

Blaine shakes his head. "I don't go to school around here," he answers coolly, despite the fact that his heart is beating faster that it ever has in his entire life, "I'm just visiting my grandparents for the holidays."

The man nods and puts Blaine's items into a bag. Blaine hands over ten dollars and tells him to keep the change. It still doesn't cover the heavy bottle in his bag but it alleviates his guilt a little as the man wishes him a merry Christmas and he makes a note never to mention this part to Sebastian because he's pretty sure that you aren't supposed to pay for things that you steal, even just in part.

He has to make himself walk calmly out of the store when all of his instincts are telling him to run. He ignores them now, and concentrates on just putting one foot in front of the other, slowly, but not too slowly, _not obvious._

And then he's outside and it's freezing again and he inhales so deeply that the cold air hurts the inside of his throat. He can't see Sebastian though. He's not at the front of the store and he isn't in his car. Then a hand grabs onto his wrist and he's being pulled around to the side of the store and slammed into the wall there, and there's Sebastian taking up all of Blaine's personal space with his too-long limbs, making Blaine feel incredibly short.

"Did you get it?" he asks.

Blaine opens his bag and Sebastian's whole face lights up as he peers inside. "Perfect." He grins and Blaine feels ridiculously proud.

Hands land on Blaine's shoulders and he looks up to see Sebastian looking at him with a strange mix of pride and glee and… something else.

"You played your part excellently Anderson, are you sure you haven't done this before?" he asks.

Blaine laughs. "My father would kill me."

"Well isn't that part of what makes it so much fun?" Sebastian asks, smirking because he knows the answer. He moves one of his hands so that it's over Blaine's heart. "I can feel your heart beating," he says so quietly, "even through your coat." Everything is strangely silent for a moment and then Sebastian grins again. "Adrenaline," he explains.

Blaine nods. He doesn't think he could talk even if he wanted to.

Sebastian is looking at him again with that _something else _and it's making him on edge.

They're both breathing erratically because of the cold air and the adrenaline, and Blaine's face is starting to go numb in all of the spaces that aren't covered by hat or scarf, and then, ever so slowly, Sebastian raises the hand that isn't over Blaine's heart, and cups his face with it and the warmness feels so foreign and welcome that Blaine can't help but sink into it. Then Sebastian's lips are on his and his other hand is on Blaine's waist now instead of his chest, pulling him closer, and they're young and stupid and they just stole a bottle of whiskey and now they're kissing and Blaine's back is digging into the brick wall behind him, and he's freezing cold but it doesn't matter because Sebastian's breath tastes like coffee and cigarettes in his mouth.

There's a sound of disapproval from somewhere behind Sebastian and they break away just in time to see two teenagers, about their age, a boy and a girl, walking towards the store front. Blaine hears the boy say "that's so undignified," and the girl reply, "oh you're just jealous," and then they're inside the store and Sebastian is laughing and shaking his head.

"You know," Sebastian says, "I don't have a roommate. What do you say we take this," he taps Blaine's bag and the bottle hits his leg lightly, "and go back to my dorm room?"

Blaine blinks up at him.

"Why me?" he asks suddenly, immediately cursing himself for doing so.

"What?" Sebastian turns his head to the side ever so slightly and Blaine really wants to kiss him again.

"Why did you ask me to come with you? There are tons of guys at school who have done this before, who would have found it much easier, and if this," he gestures vaguely between them, "is what you wanted then most of them would have been fine with that too."

Sebastian chuckles. "I don't want any of them," he smirks, "I want you."

And it's the first but certainly not the last time that those words result in Blaine's clothes bunched together on someone else's bedroom floor, and rug burns on his knees, and a horrible, horrible headache the next morning.


	10. Chapter 9

They eat lunch in the back yard. Finn and Burt argue over the BBQ and Rachel and Kurt sneak half of the raw meat back into the house to be cooked under the grill when Finn's not looking, rather than letting everyone die of food poisoning. Everyone from the old glee club is there, even Quinn, just like she said she would be. Kurt only catches Puck hiding out in the bathroom with a bottle of whiskey once and he hands it over without any fuss and makes extra sure that he says hello to Quinn when he rejoins the party, under Rachel's strict orders.

Quinn finally found her soul mate. She tells them all while they eat their lunch. He's a businessman and spends most of his time travelling, she really wanted to bring him to meet everyone but he's in London right now. Quinn sounds so happy and her eyes crinkle at the corners when she proudly tells everyone that he doesn't want them to get engaged just yet but he asked her to move in straight away. She's sure it won't be much longer until he proposes. Everyone smiles and tells her they're happy for her. Carole hugs her and tells her that she deserves the best. Blaine catches the way that Quinn's smile slips though, just for a moment, when she looks at Puck, and Kurt watches Puck's own face soften into a bittersweet smile and knows that even though Puck's heart is breaking all over again he is still happy for Quinn. Blaine and Kurt squeeze each other's hands under the table.

Santana and Brittany show off the engagement rings that they just bought for each other, and Sam cries when Mercedes tells everyone that she's pregnant, and Artie and Sugar tell everyone about their next film and how this time they're sure it will be a success, unlike the last one. No one asks if Blaine is Tobias and Kurt is fairly certain that Rachel sent out some kind of memo. He wants to be annoyed at her but he's actually sort of grateful.

Everyone loves Blaine, especially Holly who will not leave him alone but shouts every time Puck moves out of her eye line, meaning that Puck and Blaine spend the majority of the afternoon together. There is a rare five minutes where Holly is distracted by Mike and Brittany teaching her how to tap dance, and Puck takes the opportunity to sneak around to the front of the house with Santana. Blaine immediately looks for Kurt but sees him and Rachel in some kind of heated argument by the back door so quietly follows Puck and Santana around to the front of the house instead.

"Just the guy I wanted to see," Santana says as Blaine trips over a small pile of branches between the side of the house and the gate separating it from next door's yard. Santana and Puck are sitting on the front step, passing a cigar between them. Blaine raises his eyebrows and Santana smirks, passing the cigar to Puck. "Sometimes these family gatherings can get a little stressful," she explains.

"Why did you want to see me?" Blaine asks, laughing.

"Would you please tell him that Quinn is as miserable as he is?"

Puck rolls his eyes.

"Oh," Blaine stutters, "well I don't really know her that well-"

"Just answer the question." Santana interrupts.

"It wasn't really a question."

Santana laughs at that and Blaine is relieved. He would never admit it, not even to Kurt, but she is probably the most intimidating woman he has ever met.

"Did Quinn, from your outsider's point-of-view, look miserable when she was talking about her new soul mate?"

Blaine considers lying. He hasn't known these people very long and he really doesn't want to cause any trouble. But he remembers the sound of Puck's voice when Kurt spoke to him over the phone on Beth's birthday, and he remembers the way that Quinn's face had fallen, and he remembers Kurt's worry that there might come a year when Puck doesn't call.

"Yeah," he says at last, "she looked miserable."

"See?" Santana snatches the cigar from Puck's hand and passes it to Blaine.

"You're both nuts." Puck shakes his head. "She looked happy."

Blaine shakes his head, blowing cigar smoke out in front of him. It has been a long time since he's smoked anything, never mind a cigar, and he can't stop thinking about high school; memories of sneaking out on snow days and of smoking out of the window of each other's dorm rooms. The memories are probably what makes him say these things that he shouldn't be saying. "She was pretending. I know what someone looks like when they're putting on a brave face, when things aren't as good as they hoped they would be but they want everyone to think that they are. I especially know what it looks like when the wife of a businessman is pretending to be happy to save face." He thinks of his mother and of all of the times that she put on a smile and pretended that her life had turned out just the way she wanted it to, and he thinks of how happy Quinn really did look when Puck first came over to talk to her before lunch. Quinn has a beautiful smile, he thinks, and suddenly he doesn't want her to have to pretend anymore. "You should tell her that you're still in love with her."

"Whoa." Puck snaps around to look at Santana. "What the hell did you put in that thing?"

"It's just a cigar," Santana rolls her eyes and Blaine passes the cigar back to her. "Blaine's right though."

"Look no offence dude, you seem like a great guy and I'm glad Hummel's finally getting laid, but you've been here five minutes."

Santana punches Puck in the arm and Blaine shuffles a little uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to overstep."

"You weren't overstepping," Santana promises. "Everyone else is just too chicken to tell him what he needs to hear. Carry on."

Blaine looks back to Puck for permission to really keep going and he takes Puck's covering his face with his hands as a sign that he should carry on.

"I just don't think soul mates are that important. It's like arranged marriage only we're supposed to believe that the universe made the arrangement. I know that some people do fall in love with their soul mate and that's great, but I think other people force themselves into pretending to love someone that they don't really care about just because they're supposed to, and I think that if you can really find love with someone else then you shouldn't stop yourself from being with them."

There are a few moments of silence while Puck and Santana take all of this in. Then Santana starts laughing and passes the cigar back to Blaine. "I like that."

"You're marrying your soul mate," Puck reminds her.

"Some people fall in love with their soul mate," Santana replies in a tone that makes it very clear that Puck is not to argue with her.

"She doesn't want me, she wants Mr. Businessman. She has since we were kids."

Puck makes to grab the cigar from Blaine but Blaine pulls it out of his reach. "She should at least know that she has a choice."

"You don't even know her," Puck says.

"Sure he does." Santana smiles up at Blaine and, although she is definitely still intimidating, he gets the feeling that he's just been approved for something, although he's not too sure what.

"My father's a businessman," Blaine takes a long drag on the cigar before passing it to Puck. "I know her."

There's the loud crunching noise of twigs breaking and they all turn just in time to see Kurt stumble out from the side of the house and brush himself off. He takes one look at the cigar being passed between Blaine and Puck and his eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

"What's going on round here?"

"We're celebrating," Santana answers. "And we're making friends. We like Blaine."

"Good." Kurt smiles and reaches out to link his arm with Blaine's. "You probably shouldn't be smoking though, what with Holly and Mercedes-"

"That's why we came round to the front of the house," Puck interrupts.

"Well Holly finally noticed that you're gone."

Puck lets out a weary sigh and Kurt nudges Puck's knee with his boot, smiling down at him softly.

"I know it's tough, but she loves you."

"Yeah," Puck agrees, passing the cigar back to Santana and pushing himself up off the step. "It's tough."

"Tell her, you big baby!" Santana calls after him. Puck shoots an obscene hand gesture back at her before diving back around the side of the house. "He'll never tell her," she says to Blaine.

"Tell who what?" Kurt asks.

"Tell Mrs. Businessman that he wants to run away with her."

"He can't do that!"

"Why not?" Blaine asks, pulling away a little to look Kurt in the eye. "She deserves to know that he loves her."

"Because she already had to break his heart once and she's happy now, she finally has what she's always wanted, he shouldn't make her feel guilty for that."

"I think I'll leave you two to it," Santana says. Kurt clicks his tongue as she puts the cigar out on the step and flicks the remains of it into a nearby bush. "I'd better go make sure Brittany isn't getting into any trouble. Hey Blaine, make sure Kurt gives you our number," she adds before she disappears around the side of the house too.

"You really think Puck should tell Quinn that he loves her?" Kurt asks as soon as they're alone.

"Sure." Blaine shrugs. "She has a choice and she deserves to be allowed to make it. She gave her baby up for adoption, she's proven that she can make tough choices."

"But she already made her choice," Kurt snaps. He pulls away completely and crosses his arms and Blaine isn't sure what he's done exactly but he knows that he needs to fix it, right now. "Not everyone is like you," Kurt says quietly. "Some people choose their soul mate."

Oh.

"I know that," Blaine says, reaching out for Kurt, who thankfully lets him take his hands. "And I'm not saying that she shouldn't. I just think that she deserves to know how he feels, just in case she feels the same way."

"And what if she does choose Puck? What about her soul mate?" Kurt asks, refusing to meet Blaine's eye.

"If he cares about her, and if he believes in love, then he'll understand. And if he doesn't then she shouldn't be with him anyway." Kurt finally looks up at Blaine.

"Why do you care anyway?" He asks. "You just met them."

Blaine shrugs. "They're your family."

Kurt pulls Blaine towards him and kisses him, hard and breathless. "I love you," he whispers against Blaine's lips. Blaine smiles in response.

"You don't have to say that," he says quietly, meaning it.

"I mean it," Kurt promises. "And I had to tell you because I want you to always know how I feel. Even… even if we aren't together for very long… I don't want us to regret even a second of this."

Blaine rests his forehead against Kurt's and tries not to think about that sentence too much. "Well you know I love you too."

"Good." Kurt laughs.

"Good."

* * *

><p>The rest of the weekend goes by in a blur and by the time they get back into Kurt's car to head home Blaine really feels like he's part of the family, which is a nice, if unfamiliar, feeling. Carole gives him a bone-crushing hug and makes him promise to visit again soon. Holly pulls him down to her level so that she can kiss him on the cheek. Burt smiles at him in this warm way that makes his stomach tie together, pulls him into a hug, and whispers 'thank you' in his ear, and Blaine doesn't know what to do because he is not exaggerating when he says that he can't remember the last time his own father hugged him or smiled at him like that. It was probably sometime before his tenth birthday, he thinks as he climbs into Kurt's car.<p>

"So," Blaine says when they've driven far enough from the house that they can't see Rachel and Holly waving at them, pretending that he hasn't seen Kurt wiping tears from his eyes since they pulled out of the driveway. "I think that went pretty well."

"Yeah," Kurt agrees, "mom loved her gifts."

"I meant the whole thing where your family didn't try to beat me up or drive me out of town with pitchforks."

"Oh, right. That thing."

"They didn't hate me."

"They didn't hate you."

Blain pauses for a moment, considering the look on Kurt's face. He's pretending to concentrate, Blaine has, by now, figured out the exact differences between Kurt when he is actually concentrating and Kurt when he is pretending to concentrate in order to get Blaine to be quiet. It never works. He just has to figure out _why _Kurt wants him to be quiet.

"Are you disappointed?"

"What?" Kurt looks away from the road for a moment, his eyes wide as they check Blaine's face for signs that he's kidding.

"It's alright," Blaine says. "I understand. You wanted them to dislike me because then it would make it easier when you have to break up with me."

"Blaine!"

"Hey, it's okay."

Kurt pulls the car over so suddenly that they nearly go flying into someone's front yard.

"Stop it, stop it right now," he snaps, turning to fully face Blaine. "I don't ever want you thinking that, okay? If I wanted this to be easy then I would never have brought you here. I love you, and I'm going to move in with you and we're taking this one day at a time because I don't know what I'm doing here but I want to try. With you… Now shut up."

Blaine watches in silence as Kurt's face slowly returns to its natural colour instead of the red that it has suddenly gone. He nods slowly.

"If I ever get my hands on that father of yours I am going to give him a piece of my mind."

Blaine smiles down at his hands. "You are never getting within spitting distance of my father."

"Yeah well maybe I'd like to," Kurt says under his breath.

"Well, as much as I'd like to see you tear the old man a new one, it's not entirely his fault."

"Oh yes it is."

Blaine can tell that Kurt is not going to accept any of his arguments and he's far too tired to try so he just nods again instead.

"Let's just go home," he says.

Kurt's still looking at him though, in that way that only Kurt can, like he's looking into Blaine's soul.

"You know, we don't talk much about your past."

"I'm not very proud of it," Blaine says. "And I don't feel like the side of an Ohio road in your car is the best place."

"Okay." Kurt nods but Blaine can tell that he's disappointed.

"It's just, we only just left your family," Blaine explains. "This whole trip has been so great, I'd rather we wait until we get back? I don't want to tarnish the whole thing with tales of my sorry past."

Kurt rolls his eyes but he also starts driving again.

"Also," Blaine adds. "I would kind of like to get all your stuff moved in before I tell you everything, then it will be more difficult for you to run away screaming."

"Oh my God, I have to move all of my stuff into your place." The look of shock on Kurt's face makes it clear that this is the first time this prospect has crossed his mind since he agreed to move in with Blaine.

"Well, you don't _have _to," Blaine teases.

"Will it even all fit?" Kurt asks.

"We'll make room. We can easily clear half of the living room space and put a desk in so you have room for your sewing.

"This is going to take a lot of planning." Blaine smiles. Kurt is completely distracted, and hopefully by the time they get back he will have forgotten all about Blaine's past.

"Oh definitely. You should probably stay over tonight so that you can plan."

Kurt smirks over at Blaine.

"What? It's very important to me that you feel comfortable in our apartment."

"Our apartment," Kurt repeats, his voice so quiet that it is barely above a whisper. His whole face lights up in the most beautiful smile. Blaine busies himself with the radio, trying to distract himself before he suggests that they take a different road once they're out of Lima and go to that lookout that he has such fond high school memories of.

* * *

><p>When they eventually get back to the city Kurt drops Blaine off and heads back to his own apartment so that he can grab some more clean clothes, leaving Blaine on the doorstep with a promise that Kurt will be back in twenty minutes and a brilliant idea.<p>

Blaine races up to his apartment, throws his luggage into the bedroom without bothering to unpack, and gets straight to work.

Kurt checks the messages on his answering machine while he unpacks everything from their trip.

There are three messages on the machine. The first is from Miranda.

"Hey hon, I hope you're having a good time at home. Everything's fine here except for Janice getting under my feet!" The last part is said much louder than the rest of the message, and Kurt smiles knowing that Janice was probably hovering around the phone right at that moment. "Anyway, I was just calling to see if you were free to come in a couple of hours early- JANICE! Oh, you know what hon, don't worry about it, Janice can cancel her freaking plans."

Kurt deletes this message, grinning as he does so, thinking about how strange it is that he was only gone for a few days yet he managed to miss them so much.

The next message is from Finn.

"Hey man, I've been thinking and I just wanted to say sorry about being so down on you moving in with Blaine. I thought about it some more and I think I get why you're doing it now. Anyway Blaine's a really cool guy and I'm really glad you're happy. I guess that's it. Make sure you guys come back and visit again soon, okay? We all miss you. Bye."

That one Kurt keeps.

The last message is from Santana.

"Hey Kurt, don't tell the hobbit but we all totally approve and we're putting you down for plus one at the wedding so don't screw it up. Bye!"

That one gets deleted too.

Once Kurt has finished carefully unpacking everything he quickly throws a few things in an overnight bag and is just about to head back to Blaine's when he stops. Suddenly his apartment seems huge.

He can't stop looking at everything, seeing it all differently. He hasn't even moved yet but already the place doesn't feel like it's his anymore. He would be a little worried if he weren't so excited.

Kurt picks up his two favourite throw pillows and stuffs them under his arm before leaving. The sound of the door closing behind him sounds oddly final, but Kurt's surprised at how good it sounds too.

* * *

><p>There are a lot of banging noises coming from Blaine's apartment when Kurt gets there and the door is propped open with one of Blaine's dining room chairs. Kurt lets himself in, pulling the chair in after him.<p>

"Blaine?"

"Don't come in the bedroom! I'm organising a surprise!"

"That sounds ominous," Kurt says, putting the dining room chair back at the table where it should be. He clicks his tongue. These chairs look far too expensive for Blaine to be using them as doorstoppers, he is definitely going to have to teach Blaine to be more careful with his money if Blaine's father really is cutting him off.

"I promise it's a good surprise," Blaine calls back. Kurt can hear things being thrown around and he desperately wants to investigate but he gets himself a glass of water instead to distract him.

When Blaine eventually comes out of the room he has small white feathers in his hair and looks quite exhausted.

"Done," he says proudly, taking the half-empty glass of water from Kurt and finishing it in one gulp. "What are those?" he asks, pointing at the pillows on the floor next to Kurt's overnight bag.

"Oh," Kurt blushes a little. "They're mine, from my apartment. I thought they could be the first thing I officially move in."

Blaine's smile is blinding. "Should we put them on the couch or on the bed?"

"The couch," Kurt says. Blaine picks up the pillows and rearranges the many pillows already on the couch so that Kurt's are at the centre.

"Perfect. Now wait until you see what I've done to the bedroom, you're going to love it!" Kurt suspects from the twinkle in Blaine's eye that he most probably is not, in fact, going to love whatever this is, but still he lets Blaine drag him into the bedroom.

"What have you…" Kurt trails off as he slowly figures out what Blaine has done. The bed frame is still where it should be but there is no mattress, instead what appears to be all of Blaine's clothes have been thrown haphazardly across the bed, coat hangers included, where the mattress should be, and the closet door is wide open. Kurt moves over so that he can see inside the closet and sure enough, Blaine has taken the mattress from the bed and instead laid it out on the floor of the closet. The most annoying thing, Kurt thinks, is that the mattress fits perfectly. "I am not sleeping in a closet."

"Just for tonight," Blaine says, falling down on the mattress. "Come on, it's cute and romantic."

Kurt rolls his eyes. "This is not a thing."

"Kurt, I think it's time to admit that this is a thing. We have a thing, and that thing is closets. Besides, the first night you stayed here we ate breakfast in this closet."

Well now Kurt has to sit down in the freaking closet.

No sooner has Kurt sat down than Blaine is pulling him back so that they're lying down on their backs, Kurt's head resting on Blaine's chest.

"You are sure about this, aren't you?" Blaine asks softly.

Kurt doesn't hesitate for a second. "Completely."

"Good."

Kurt feels Blaine's lips brush the top of his head and he can't help but smile up at the ceiling. He's not sure he can remember the last time he was this happy or that everything felt this right, and, for just a moment, he completely forgets about soul mates and matchmakers and everything else that isn't Blaine.

* * *

><p>The next morning Kurt wakes first, and it takes him a few minutes to remember where he is. Then it all comes flooding back at once and he sits bolt upright.<p>

"I slept in a closet last night," he whispers to himself.

Blaine sirs next to him and Kurt blushes a little, remembering the other things that he did in the closet last night.

"Too early," Blaine mumbles, pulling weakly at Kurt's arm.

"It is not," Kurt says, lying back down next to Blaine anyway. Blaine snuggles in closer, wrapping himself around Kurt's side.

"Shush."

Kurt laughs. "Hey, it's my apartment now too you know. You don't get to make all the rules anymore."

Blaine smiles, his eyes still shut. "Like I got to make the rules anyway."

Kurt doesn't even bother trying to argue with him.

"Is there anything in for breakfast?" he asks instead.

Blaine finally opens his eyes. "Actually yes, I think there's cereal in the kitchen and milk in the fridge."

Kurt's mouth falls open in shock. Blaine never has food in the apartment.

"I know, I know, I am the perfect boyfriend."

"You called Rita and asked her to bring them over before we left Ohio, didn't you?"

Blaine at least has the decency to look a little guilty.

Kurt just laughs and crawls his way out of the closet.

"No," Blaine whines. "Breakfast can wait, we need more snuggle time."

"You are a ridiculous human being in the morning."

"I'm ridiculous? You're the one who gets up at the crack of dawn and just jumps out of bed ready to take on the day."

"How is that ridiculous?" Kurt asks, looking down at Blaine.

"I don't know. You're very underdressed right now compared to your usual ensembles and it's distracting me. Please come back here I'm not finished snuggling you."

Kurt grabs his shirt and jeans from the floor and pulls the shirt on before going to find breakfast.

"Spoil-sport!" Blaine calls after him. Once out of the bedroom Kurt pulls his jeans on and stops to admire the view from the huge window in Blaine's living room. He reminds himself that it's his living room now too and smiles down at his throw pillows on the couch before making his way into the kitchen.

"Do you want anything?" Kurt calls out.

"Just coffee please," Blaine replies. He has managed to drag himself out of the closet-bed and is throwing some clothes on, but he stops for just a second when he hears Kurt humming to himself as he turns on the coffee machine. It's so peaceful and domestic and everything that Blaine has ever wanted. He pinches himself on the arm to make sure that he's not dreaming.

"Should we start moving my stuff in right away or do you want to wait a few days to get everything organised?" Kurt asks, pulling the milk out of the fridge.

"We could just move some of the smaller stuff in today and move everything in bit by bit," Blaine replies, his voice muffled by the sweater he is pulling on over his head as he stumbles out of the bedroom. The sweater inevitably gets stuck on his head because one of the arms is still inside out, and he trips over a pile of books, falling flat on his face. Kurt has lost count of the amount of times that this has happened but still it makes him jump and he spills milk everywhere.

"Crap," he says, quickly setting the milk bottle on the counter and searching for kitchen paper.

"Leave it-"

"I am not leaving milk to fester and curdle all over your kitchen for poor Rita to clean up," Kurt insists. "That's disgusting, she's your maid not your servant."

"Our maid," Blaine reminds him with a smile as he stands up and finally pulls the sweater in place.

"You must keep kitchen paper around here somewhere," Kurt mutters, flinging open all of the drawers and cupboards.

Blaine's face falls immediately. "I'll do it," he offers quickly, moving towards Kurt.

But it's too late.

Kurt has opened the cupboard under the kitchen sink.

"What is this?" he asks, laughter in his voice. Blaine closes his eyes and concentrates on that sound.

"It's not-" Blaine stops talking immediately as he hears the unmistakeable sound of a book falling to the floor. He opens his eyes again in time to see Kurt heaving the box out of the cupboard, pulling the books out one by one, slowly, and looking at them. "I was going to tell you."

"This is him," Kurt says quietly. He runs his thumb across the name embossed on the cover. Richard Matheson.

"I don't know that yet," Blaine says, taking the box away and putting it down behind him. There are books strewn across the floor and Kurt's still holding one in his hands.

"Yes you do," he says, finally looking up at Blaine. "Of course you do. That's how it works."

There are tears glistening in Kurt's eyes and Blaine doesn't know what to do. He has never felt this hopeless, it feels like his entire life is crashing down around him, and it never even had time to really begin.

"Kurt." He tries to take Kurt's hands but Kurt just pulls away. "Kurt, I was going to contact him, I was going to tell him I can't be with him, because I'm already in love with you. I promise, Kurt, that's what I went to tell my father, that's why he cut me off."

Kurt finally drops the last book. "We can't do this."

"Of course we can, this doesn't change anything."

"No, Blaine." Kurt looks frantic now and the tears aren't just glistening anymore but falling freely down his face. "I can't do this."

"What?"

"You found him, Blaine." Kurt smiles a little through his tears and Blaine wants nothing more than to reach out and wipe those tears away, to see Kurt smile properly again.

"I don't want him," Blaine replies, his voice seems to give audio to the sound of his heart breaking. "I already made my choice."

"Well I'm making mine." Kurt looks at Blaine for just a moment more, then he starts collecting up the few small things he brought with him the day before. Suddenly it feels like their trip to Ohio happened weeks ago rather than hours.

"Kurt." Blaine reaches out and takes hold of Kurt's arm. Kurt stops packing but he doesn't turn around. "I love you."

"I love you too." Kurt pulls his arm away, still not looking at Blaine. "That's why I have to do this."

"I don't understand. I don't want him, Kurt I want you. I made my decision and I'm not going to change it."

Finally Kurt turns to look at him. The last time Blaine saw Kurt this undone was after their first night together, when Kurt cried and told Blaine that he was falling in love with him. Blaine doesn't know what to do to make it better.

"You told me that you would let me go," Kurt says. He raises one hand and places it on Blaine's cheek and Blaine's own hands immediately fly up to clasp it there. "You said that if I met Tobias, and if I chose him, then you would let me go."

"But I don't chose Richard."

"I know." Kurt pulls his hand away and picks up his bag. "But I can't promise that I won't chose Tobias."

Blaine feels like all of the wind is being knocked out of him.

"We knew this was going to happen." Kurt smiles sadly. "I just wish it didn't have to happen so soon."

"Kurt, please, I don't care if you chose Tobias, just stay with me until then."

"I can't," Kurt says again. "I can't let you chose me when I don't know if I'll chose you. Richard will make you happy, he's supposed to."

"You make me happy."

"Blaine, you kept those books for a reason, you kept them from me for a reason."

"Do you remember Janice's analogy?" Blaine asks suddenly.

Kurt stops, halfway to the door.

"Safety nets," Blaine reminds him. "That's all they are Kurt. They're just safety nets. I don't need a safety net, I just need you."

For one blissful moment Blaine thinks Kurt is about to put down his bag. Then his grip tightens and he turn around to face Blaine for what Blaine already knows will be the final time.

"Everyone falls eventually."

"Not me," Blaine promises. "I won't." Then, ever so quietly, he adds, "You taught me how to fly, Kurt."

Kurt's gaze drops to the floor and Blaine hears the tiniest bitter laugh escape from Kurt's lips. "Without you I'd never have left the ground," he says, looking up again.

Blaine laughs. "These are the worst metaphors ever. Make sure you tell Janice that when you see her."

"Blaine." Kurt looks at him for a second, just… looks. It's almost painful because Blaine knows what Kurt is doing. One last look. "I can't stand in the way. I have to go. And you should go to him."

"You know I won't," Blaine says, meaning every single word.

"I want you to." Kurt opens the door and takes one last look around the apartment. Just five minutes ago this was his apartment too.

"I love you." Fresh tears spring from Blaine's eyes.

"I love you too."

The door closes behind Kurt with a sharp click.


	11. Chapter 10

**(A/N) Well, this is it. The last chapter. I can only apologise for how long this thing has taken me to finish and hope that it will have been worth the wait, even a little bit. A download for the Soul Mates playlist, including new extra tracks, can be found on my tumblr, which is currently knightsofthegaytable (although I do advise you not to look at the new tracks until after reading this final chapter). Thank you so much for reading, and waiting so so patiently, and thank you for your encouragement. I'll shut up now because I think you've waited for this conclusion for long enough. Thank you.**

* * *

><p>Kurt wakes up to the sound of Miranda's ancient coffee machine at exactly twelve minutes to seven, just as he has done every day for the past six months. Three minutes later, right on schedule, Kurt hears the buzz of Peter's electric razor. At five minutes to seven Miranda knocks on the door twice and then pushes it open.<p>

"Morning." Right on time.

"Morning." Kurt sits up and Miranda passes him the cup of coffee in her hand. Kurt sips the coffee as Miranda talks. Just like every morning the coffee is too hot and too bitter. He takes another sip.

"New stock's coming in today and Janice has left us high and dry again so drink up quick, I'm having Peter make you a cooked breakfast- no arguments! You're going to need the energy today."

Kurt just nods and Miranda leaves, closing the door behind her. Kurt flinches at the sound of the door clicking shut, just as he does every morning, then he gets out of bed and gets dressed. He has exactly seven minutes before Miranda will knock on the door again to tell him that breakfast is ready.

Once he's dressed he checks his cell phone. There's a message from Finn. He doesn't listen to it, he's knows what it will be about and he knows that it can wait. The one part of his morning routine that varies day to day is this morning phone call. Some days it's Rachel calling, other days it's Finn, and on very rare occasions it is his father or Carole. Some days the call comes in the morning, some days it comes later on in the afternoon. The message is always the same though, no matter who or what time it is.

Miranda knocks on the door.

"Breakfast's ready!"

Just like clockwork.

* * *

><p>Blaine barely has time to drop his bags before Janice jumps on him, kissing him full on the mouth in front of the entire airport. She pulls away grinning and Blaine punches her lightly on the arm.<p>

"Missed you too," she says, grabbing his bags. "Good flight?"

"Fine," Blaine says, following Janice to the exit. "I wish he'd stop booking first class tickets for me though."

"You are so ungrateful." Janice laughs.

"I feel guilty about the amount of money he's spending on me," Blaine protests.

"He'll more than make it back when the book gets published."

"That's not the point. Speaking of the book, did you manage to reach her?"

"You're barely off the plane for five minutes and already we're talking shop?" Blaine fixes Janice with an impatient look. "Not yet, but we're closing in though, so you'd better make sure your sugar daddy doesn't miss his flight this time."

"Would you please stop calling him that?"

"Nope. Now call him and let him know you got here safely, you know how he worries."

Blaine shakes his head at her but pulls a brand new phone out of his pocket anyway. Janice's eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. "Shut up." He blushes a little as he dials the number.

"Yeah," Janice says. "You feel so guilty about the amount of money he spends on you."

"Shut up," Blaine repeats, hitting the first number on his speed dial.

"Trophy wife," Janice whispers as Blaine waits for someone to pick up the phone at the other end of the line. Blaine punches her arm again and Janice runs ahead of him, laughing and swinging his bags as she goes.

* * *

><p>Kurt checks the message from Finn while Miranda drives them to work. He would like to be able to drive himself to work but Janice insists that while he's staying with her it would be pointless and bad for the environment. Kurt does of course agree but it means that he never gets any time to himself any more, except for the five minutes each week when he goes to pick his mail up from his apartment.<p>

Kurt had moved in to Miranda's house shortly after he and Blaine broke up. He had gone to her immediately after leaving Blaine's apartment, not knowing what else to do, and when he had returned to his own apartment building the next day and seen Blaine sleeping on the front stoop he had turned right back around and begged Miranda to let him stay with her for a few more days. A few days had turned into a few weeks, and a few weeks had turned into a few months, and now Kurt was living in Miranda's spare room indefinitely.

At first he had just wanted to avoid Blaine, and Miranda had understood, she had even let him take almost a month off work without docking his pay at all because they both knew that if Blaine was willing to sleep outside Kurt's apartment then he would definitely be willing to camp outside the bookstore. Kurt suspected that Miranda felt guilty about having encouraged him to go out with Blaine in the first place. After a while Blaine had given up trying to see Kurt. He had taken the hint and Kurt had gone back to work, but still Kurt could not bring himself to move back into his own apartment.

As much as Kurt complains about never being alone anymore, he knows that this is better than trying to live in his tiny apartment, surrounded by memories that he can never have again.

The message is the same as always; Puck is acting strangely, Finn is worried. Today's strange act however is slightly different. Puck has gone to work early, without saying goodbye to anyone. Kurt does not understand why this is strange behaviour but then he does not live with Puck.

Kurt deletes the message.

According to Rachel and Finn, Puck's behaviour has become increasingly strange over the past few months, ever since the awful rundown apartment he had been living in on the edge of town was finally demolished and, since he'd basically been living with Rachel and Finn since graduation anyway, they had all decided that he should just move in with them. Kurt gets a phone call almost every day about some strange thing that Puck has done. It started when Puck sold his car, almost doubled the prices for his pool cleaning business, and stopped drinking alcohol completely. Then it had started to be smaller things like Puck staying out later than usual, or not coming home at all, or spending a long time on the phone. Apparently nothing is too small for someone to call Kurt about it.

Anyway it all sounds to Kurt as though Puck has simply stopped wallowing at last and is finally getting himself together. Kurt understands that Finn and Rachel are worried but he can't help hoping that this change in Puck continues, and that maybe he might not need to worry about waiting for the call on Beth's next birthday. He has said this exact thing to both Finn and Rachel plenty of times but still they insist on calling him about every seemingly unusual thing that Puck does.

"Anything important?" Miranda asks, as Kurt drops his cell phone in his bag.

"No. Just my brother again."

"Oh yeah," Miranda snaps her fingers, obviously remembering something, "I forget to tell you, your mom called after you went to bed last night. Something about your friend Puck coming by to borrow a suitcase? She sounded kind of worried."

_Okay, _Kurt admits to himself. _That is a little strange._

"I'll call her back during my break."

* * *

><p>Blaine opens the door to his apartment and before Janice has even stepped foot inside he is lying facedown on his old couch.<p>

"We have work to do," Janice says as she yanks open the door to his fridge. As usual Rita has been in and stocked the kitchen for them. "How much do you pay this woman?"

"A lot," Blaine admits as he rolls over on to his back. "If it wasn't for daddy dearest then I would definitely have had to let her go."

"I thought she worked for the whole building?" Janice asks as she roots through the cupboards.

"She's an 'optional extra'."

"She's a goddess."

Blaine hums his agreement.

"Okay," Janice says as the coffee machine comes to life behind her. She comes around to sit down on the couch and Blaine moves to accommodate her. "I've got a couple of phone calls left to make but I think we're going to be done by the end of the day. Are you sure you're ready?"

Blaine nods. "I'm sure."

Janice looks pained for a moment. "If it's not-"

"Janice," Blaine interrupts, laying his hand on her knee. "I'm not expecting it to be good news. I just need to know."

Janice nods and grasps Blaine's hand briefly. "I've called Santana, and let her know that we're close."

"Is he on his way?"

"Yep. In fact he might even be there already. For better or worse everyone's in place."

Blaine exhales loudly. "Okay. Make the first call."

"It's barely daylight." Janice laughs. "At least let's have some coffee and give everyone some time to wake up first. We're not all jetsetters like you, darling."

"Research trips and following your leads!"

"Excuses, excuses."

Blaine throws a cushion at Janice as she runs back to the coffee machine. It isn't until afterwards, when he's scooping it up from the floor, that he realises it is one of the cushions that Kurt left behind. He hugs it close to his chest.

Janice is right. Blaine has made a lot of trips over these past few months. He has also told a lot of lies. It will all be worth it though, he knows, when they finally find out the truth once and for all.

"What time does Richard's plane get in?" Janice asks as she searches for the sugar.

"One o'clock," Blaine answers, reaching out to pass it to her. "He has a meeting with his publisher this morning but I figured it would be easier for me to come out earlier and help you with the phone calls."

"You figured right," Janice says, smiling at him. "We're going to find her today, Blaine. I know we are. I can feel it in my bones."

"Well I should hope so since you've assembled everyone we know in various parts of the country."

"I can feel it!" Janice shouts. Blaine laughs and she pulls him towards her for a hug, Kurt's cushion squashed between them.

"You shouldn't get my hopes up," Blaine mutters into her neck. Janice laughs softly against him.

"I have Matchmaker blood, remember? I can feel these things. One way or another, today's the day."

"And if it isn't?"

Janice pulls away enough to shrug and look Blaine in the eyes. "Then we try again tomorrow."

"It's been six months."

"And I personally am willing to do this for six more years. Aren't you?"

Blaine sighs. "It's not me I'm worried about."

"Stop worrying. Let me do the worrying. You drink this coffee and help me harass these poor unsuspecting old people over the phone. I want to be ready when your sugar daddy arrives."

"Stop calling him that!"

* * *

><p>Kurt is not stupid. He knows where Janice is when she's supposed to be at work. He knows that she isn't sick, and she doesn't have an appointment with the doctor, and she isn't visiting her grandmother. Kurt knows that Janice is calling in sick so that she can spend time with Blaine. What he doesn't know is what is so important that Janice needs to spend quite as much time with Blaine as she does.<p>

"Why do you let Janice get away with the amount of sick days she's been taking recently?" Kurt asks. Miranda blinks at him. The question is so out of the blue and although she used to expect Kurt to ask she hasn't thought about it for a long time.

"She told me that it was important." Miranda shrugs and goes back to checking the stock in the box in front of her.

"That what was important?"

"Whatever it is she's doing."

"I thought she was sick."

"Less talking, more stock checking." Miranda flutters her hands over the box in front of Kurt.

"Miranda."

Miranda sighs and looks over at Kurt. For a few moments that's all she does, just looks. Then she sits down. Kurt follows her lead.

"She's not just taking sick days. She's up to something, I don't know what, but whatever it is it's important. I figured out that something was going on pretty soon after she started taking so many days off and confronted her about it, I was going to give her a warning, but she told me that she was doing something important and that it needed to be done."

"So you just let her?"

Miranda shrugs. "I trust her. Anyway when she called yesterday she told me that it should be finished soon."

"And you have no idea what it is?"

"No. Now come on, get back to work. We have a lot of boxes to sort through."

"Is it okay if I just call my mom first?"

Miranda throws her hands up in exasperation. "Fine. Go. Don't be long."

Kurt smiles and flees the office with his cell phone.

Carole picks up after the second ring.

"Hi mom."

"Kurt, honey, how are you?"

"I'm fine. Miranda said you called last night?"

"Oh, yeah, I know you're getting sick of everyone telling you every little thing that Puck gets up to, but he came by here yesterday and asked to borrow one of your dad's suitcases."

"Did you give it to him?"

"Well yes, but he wouldn't tell us where he's going. We wondered if he might be coming to visit you?"

Kurt isn't sure why they would wonder that at all, but then he still doesn't fully understand why Puck calls him on Beth's birthday instead of Finn.

"Not that I know of," he says. "Have you checked with the others?"

"No one knows anything. Finn even tracked down his dad this morning."

"I imagine that was an easy conversation."

Carole laughs a little bitterly. Puck's dad is a touchy subject for everyone.

"I really have to get back to work. I'll call if I hear anything."

After Carole hangs up Kurt calls Puck. He doesn't pick up but Kurt leaves a message just in case, telling him to call somebody. He has to admit it's a little odd, even for Puck, to just take off without telling anyone where he's going. It's even weirder that he would ask to borrow a suitcase.

Kurt pulls his phone back out of his pocket.

Finn picks up on the first ring. "What did Puck say before he left?"

"Nothing, we were both asleep. Like I said in my message, we just figured he'd gone to work, then mom told us about the suitcase. She said he came over really late last night. Rach thinks he might not have even come home at all."

"Did he leave a note?"

"No. Nothing."

"Did you check his room?"

"Come on Kurt, at least give Rachel some credit if you won't give me any."

Kurt laughs. They both stop talking for a moment. It's a sound neither of them have heard for a while. "Have you checked Holly's room?" Kurt asks.

"Nothing."

Kurt sighs. What could Puck possibly be up to? He's almost tempted to drive to Ohio and search the house for clues. He makes the mistake of saying this out loud and Finn immediately starts to get excited about it.

"Dude, if anyone could figure it out, it would be you. You know Puck better than any of us."

"I don't have time." They fall into silence again as Kurt thinks. "Can you look through his things and write a list of what he took and what he left behind?"

"I guess. I mean he hasn't really got all that much stuff."

"Okay. Get Rachel to help you do that and call me back when it's done. Make sure you check for his passport. I see if I can think of anything else."

"Done." By the time that they hang up Finn sounds almost excited and Kurt can't help but admit that this is already shaping up to be the most interesting day he's had for a while.

* * *

><p>"Thank you for your time." Blaine hangs up his phone and immediately slams his head on the table.<p>

"Dead end?" Janice asks.

"Literally."

Janice winces. This is not the first time that they have encountered that problem in the last six months.

"Well, luckily for you I hit a jackpot," she says, holding up the notes she took during her last call.

"What?" Blaine's snaps his head back up and immediately starts snatching at the piece of paper in Janice's hands. "Why didn't you tell me as soon as you hung up?" he asks when he realises that Janice is not going to give up her notes.

"You were still on the phone. Now listen, on this piece of paper is a number. It might be an important one."

Blaine nods. Janice sounds very serious all of a sudden and that just makes it all sound much more real.

"The man I was just talking to was apprenticed to a Matchmaker who knew the woman May told us about."

Blaine's breath catches in his throat. This could be it. Six months of research and calls and dead ends and they could finally have found her. "So whose number is it?"

"The woman's old apprentice."

"I thought-"

"Me too."

For a moment the two just look at each other. Blaine's heart feels lighter than it has in months but at the same time he is suddenly so scared.

"Let me call?" Blaine asks.

"Are you sure?"

Blaine nods and Janice hands over the slip of paper.

"Her name's Sophia."

His fingers feel numb as he dials the number.

"Hello? Is this Sophia?"

"This is Sophia's apprentice, Rebecca. How may I help?" Rebecca sounds very cheerful and friendly. Blaine's shoulders slouch in relief.

"Hi Rebecca. My name's Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

There's a silence on the other end of the phone.

"Rebecca?"

"She's been expecting your call."

"So you know who I am?"

"How could I not? Is there anyone in our circle you haven't spoken to?" Rebecca does not sound so friendly anymore.

"I'm sure you understand-"

"No actually I don't. Sophia is not a young woman, and the answers that you want are from a very painful time."

"I appreciate that-"

"Do you, Mr. Anderson? Because from what I have heard-" Blaine does not get to hear the end of Rebecca's sentence.

"Listen, Rebecca," Janice says into the receiver. "I do not have time for this at all. We didn't call to speak to you, we called to speak to Sophia, and as I recall your job is to learn and assist so if you wouldn't mind learning some manners and assisting Sophia to the phone she can just tell us to mind our business all by herself and then we can all get on with our lives. Okay?"

There's a pause that Blaine assumes means Rebecca has gone to get Sophia. He holds his hand out for the phone but Janice shakes her head. He sits there for a while, watching her, but he can't take it for more than a few seconds so he ends up calling Richard on Janice's phone just for something to do.

"Hey," he says, smiling when he hears Richard's voice. "It's Blaine."

"Why are you calling from Janice's phone?"

"She's using mine... She thinks we might be close."

"What do you think?"

Blaine has to think about that for a moment. What does he think? He used to have so much faith but after six months of searching anyone would lose some of that. Truthfully he doesn't even know if he would have been able to keep going if it weren't for Richard and Janice.

"I think we're close." And for the first time he's sure.

"Good." Blaine can hear his smile over the phone. "Tell me everything."

"There isn't much to tell." Blaine recounts his morning to Richard, including every tiny success and huge failure. He wanders around his bedroom as he's talking and ends up sitting in the bottom of his closet.

"The sound's gone all strange," Richard says.

"I'm in my closet."

Richard laughs. "Promise me you haven't put the mattress in there."

"Not yet." Blaine smiles.

"I should go," Richard says, laughter still in his voice. "Don't want to miss my flight."

"Maybe we'll be finished by the time you get here?"

"That would be good, then there would be very little for me to do and I could just explore your apartment again."

Blaine is about to respond but he's interrupted by a large banging noise and then Janice, who comes running into the bedroom, waving a piece of paper around.

"I got it!"

"What?" Blaine falls out of the closet in his haste to join her.

"I got the number."

"How? What number?" Richard is silent at the other end of the phone.

"She doesn't have an apprentice anymore, but she does have relatives. Her granddaughter takes care of her. Sophia had the granddaughter's number."

"She's real," Blaine says, disbelieving. It's the first time in six months that he has really known for sure. This fairy story told to them by Janice's grandmother's old apprentice is real. There's a real Matchmaker out there who shunned the position, left the others, and went into hiding.

And Janice is holding her phone number.

* * *

><p>Finn calls back later in the day to tell Kurt that Puck has taken his passport, his wallet, his phone, and at least three shirts and one pair of jeans.<p>

"That's it?"

"According to Rachel."

"He didn't even take his toothbrush," Rachel yells loud enough for Kurt to hear.

"Why did he need a suitcase if that was all he took?" Kurt asks.

"He has his wallet, maybe he planned to buy more stuff later?" Finn suggests. Kurt considers this possibility. It certainly makes sense, he guesses. Although really very little of this makes sense. And if Puck has his phone then why isn't he answering anyone's calls?

"You're sure he didn't say anything to you about leaving?"

"I told you dude, nothing. He's been acting strange for like the past six months… honestly we kind of starting wondering if-"

"Finn!" There's a sound that is clearly Rachel slapping Finn's arm.

"What where you wondering?" Kurt asks.

"Well it's just, you know, this all started happening a little after you and- I mean after you came to visit for mom's birthday. And Quinn told everyone about her soul mate and everything." Finn's correction does not go unnoticed. Kurt isn't up to addressing it though. He might never be.

"You think it has something to do with Quinn?" he asks instead.

"Maybe."

Kurt nods. It makes sense. He tries not to think too hard about the conversation they all had in the garden that day.

"What now?" Finn asks.

"I don't think there is anything else."

"We just wait?"

"We just wait."

"Kurt!"

Kurt sighs.

"Miranda needs me. Keep me updated if anything changes."

Kurt goes back inside and goes back to work, but he can't concentrate at all. He knows that there's nothing more he can do but he just can't seem to accept that. Usually he has no trouble ignoring the drama in Ohio, especially since it's been a few months since his last visit, but he can't help but feel a little responsible this time. For whatever reason Puck trusts him. Puck trusts him enough to call him every year on Beth's birthday. Maybe if he had listened, maybe if he had called Puck after the first call from Finn about how weird Puck was being, maybe they'd know where Puck was. He's not naïve or self-centred enough to think that he could have changed Puck's mind if he was intent on leaving, but maybe he would know where Puck had gone. Or why.

"Kurt." Miranda calls from across the store, snapping Kurt out of his thoughts. "Register."

Kurt puts down the pile of books that he had been pretending to stack while he thought about Puck, and moves over to the register. It's a pretty busy day today and Janice really should be there. Kurt's kind of glad that she isn't though. Being around her is too difficult.

Kurt always just wants to ask her how he is.

* * *

><p>Blaine, Janice, and Richard all look up at the old house from where they sit inside Janice's car. They came straight from the airport and drove for two hours to get there. Blaine spent the entire two hours thanking every being that he could think of that this woman lives so close. He'd have flown to Australia to find her, of course, but he's glad he didn't have to.<p>

"We have to go in," Janice says for the third time.

Janice had called the granddaughter's phone number immediately after Blaine and Richard had hung up and it hadn't taken long for the woman to agree to a meeting. The granddaughter was called Margaret, and the woman they had been searching for was called Anna. Margaret hadn't put up as much of a fight as Rebecca, but she had demanded to know what they wanted from her grandmother before agreeing to even let them talk to her.

Anna had agreed to meet with them only after Blaine had asked personally.

Janice and Blaine had picked Richard up from the airport and they had all driven out to Anna's house straight away. Blaine was fairly certain that Janice had broken a few laws to get them there so quickly but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

"Just one more minute," Blaine says.

"You said that last time," Janice says gently.

"It's the final step," Blaine explains. "What if-"

"You have to stop thinking about 'what if'," Richard says. "You've been thinking about 'what if' for too long. We all have. Now we're here, we don't have to anymore. We can know."

Blaine looks up at Richard, at the care in his eyes.

"No matter what she says," Blaine says. "I don't want anything to change between us."

"Of course not," Richard promises. "We're soul mates."

Blaine laughs. "Okay." He takes one deep breath and then all in one quick motion he opens the car door, jumps out, and closes the door behind him. Janice and Richard follow.

"I can't do this." Blaine tries to head back to the car but Richard grabs onto his hand and pulls him toward the front door of the house. Janice knocks on the door before Blaine can wriggle free from Richard and run away.

It's Margaret who opens the door.

Janice introduces each of the three and Margaret leads them into the house.

"She's very old," Margaret says as she leads the three of them into a sitting room. They all three sit down on one sofa and Margaret moves two chairs around to face them. "It just means that her hearing isn't always the best and she can take a while to get to a point. She's still sharp as a tack though. Don't underestimate her. "

"It's very rude to talk about me in front of our guests," A voice says from the doorway. Blaine turns to see a woman who must be in her late nineties at least, with silver hair and bright violet eyes. She walks with a walking stick and Margaret immediately rushes to help her into a seat. This must be Anna.

Once Anna is sat down opposite Blaine, Richard, and Janice, Margaret leaves to get some tea. While she is gone they all introduce themselves, and as soon as she comes back Anna sends her away again. Margaret protests but it's clear that despite her age Anna is still very much in charge, and it isn't long before Margaret leaves the four of them alone.

"So," Anna says a few moments after the door has closed behind her granddaughter. "Tell me everything."

"Excuse me?" Janice asks.

Anna takes a sip of her tea. "You want to talk to me about something that I am really not supposed to talk about. I want to know who you are. I want to know how you came to be here. Most importantly I want to know why."

Janice squares her shoulders. It makes sense for her to start; they'd never have got here without here. "My grandmother was a Matchmaker. I'm still friendly with her old apprentice, May, and she told me about you."

"What did she tell you exactly?"

"That you were a legend or a myth. The Matchmaker who ran away, refused to see anyone, refused to take an apprentice. There are a lot of different versions."

"The truth is probably more boring than all of them."

"We'd love to hear it," Richard says.

"Margaret said one of you is writing a book, I suppose that's you?"

"None of this has to go in the book if you don't want it to."

Anna considers for a moment. "I'm not sure if you'll want to put it in a book at all," she says at last. "But you certainly can, just as long as you leave my name out of it. How did you find me if your friend thought I was a myth?" she asks, turning back to Janice.

Janice shrugs. "We spent six months asking around. We started with our own Matchmakers, then we found Matchmakers who were known to have spoken to newspapers or anyone else, then relatives, then anyone else who would listen."

"Six months?" Anna turns to focus her gaze on Blaine and Richard. "You're Soul Mates?"

Blaine nods.

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"The truth," Blaine says after a moment of thought.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I'm in love with someone else," Blaine says. "And so is Richard."

"Two of them," Richard smiles and pulls his wallet out of his pocket. Blaine rolls his eyes fondly. Richard is always showing people the photograph in his wallet. "This is my partner, Maria, and this is her daughter, Sam." Anna takes the photo into her pale hand and looks at it closely.

"A widow?" she asks.

Richard nods sadly. "Sam was only a baby when her father died." Anna hands back the photograph.

"And you?"

"I had someone," Blaine says. "But I always believed that we had a choice and he never did." It sounds so simple when he says it like that. Blaine wonders how something so complicated can boil down to just that. One sentence.

"Surely there's always a choice." Anna says. "I had a choice. I chose to leave my life. I chose to abandon my calling as a Matchmaker. No one else would ever have believed that choice existed, but I am sure I'm not the only person to ever make it."

Blaine shakes his head. "I just need to know."

Anna watches them all for a moment. Janice who wants to understand her grandmother's life, Blaine who wants to know that he has a choice, and Richard who wants his family.

"What happens if I say that Soul Mates and definite and real?" she asks.

"Nothing changes," Richard says. He smiles at Blaine. Blaine smiles back, encouraging. "We're a family. We may not be together but that doesn't mean we don't care for one another."

For the first time since they entered the house, Anna smiles.

"I can tell you only one thing. You can use it in your book, or not, but no one can ever know who I am."

"I promise," Richard says without hesitation.

"Soul Mates are real." Blaine's heart sinks. "But the names are not definite."

"What?" Blaine asks. Now is not the time for cryptic messages, not when his heart is trying so hard to keep beating at a normal rate.

Anna reaches out and takes Blaine's hands in her own. She looks into his eyes and suddenly Blaine is ten years old again, sitting in his parents' living room. "It's not a science, it's not even an exact art. There are a hundred possibilities in every life. We pick one, that's all. When a Matchmaker looks into a child's eyes, they might see one name or one hundred names. The choosing is complicated and messy and I couldn't explain it if I wanted to. I can't promise that your someone's name was one of those names." She turns to Richard but still keeps hold of Blaine's hands. "I can't promise you that your Maria's name was in there either. But you do have a choice. You always did. Until it was taken away. That's why I left the Matchmakers. That's why I left my life behind. I don't believe in taking away any person's choice."

Blaine can feel the tears prickling the backs of his eyes. "Thank you," he whispers, gripping onto Anna's hands like they're a lifeline, like they've given him his life back.

"You don't believe in it then?" Janice asks. "The organisation, I mean."

"I do not," Anna says.

"You should let Richard write his book. Tell him everything you know. He could blow the whole thing wide open."

Anna looks Richard up and down, her eyes eventually settling on the photograph still clasped in his hands. "I'm not sure the world is ready for that," she says.

"It has to be," Richard says. He puts one arm around Blaine's shoulders. That's the thing that tips Blaine over he edge, and the tears fall hot and fast and there's nothing he could do to stop them if he wanted to, but he doesn't. He has never felt so free, not since he was ten years old and hiding in his parents' bushes, knowing that they would never find him there. Even if Kurt still won't have him it's okay. It's okay because there's a chance, even if it's only small, there's a chance that he and Kurt are meant to be, that Richard and Maria are too, and Puck and Quinn. That's all he ever needed.

"We have to go," Blaine says, wiping away his own tears. "I have to see Kurt, I have to tell him." Richard nods. "Thank you," Blaine says to Anna. "Thank you so much."

* * *

><p>It's almost closing time when Kurt's phone rings again. He picks it up without even looking at who it is, automatically expecting it to be Rachel or Finn. He's more than a little surprised to hear Santana's voice.<p>

"Puck's fine," she says before Kurt even has a chance to ask.

"I thought you didn't know where he was?"

"You'll thank me later."

"I'll thank you now if you tell me why you lied to everyone."

"We were waiting for confirmation on something."

Kurt rubs at his forehead. He's tired and getting a headache and now it turns out that Santana has known where Puck was all along and they've all been worrying for nothing and it takes everything in him not to hang up the phone right now.

"We've been worried sick."

"We're sorry, okay? It was important."

"Where is he?"

"I can't tell you yet."

"Santana-"

"It's important." If she says that one more time then Kurt is going to snap. "It'll all make sense soon enough I swear. I just wanted you to know that he's okay."

"Are you with him?"

"Kind of."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"God, Hummel, I'm going against everyone's orders here because I don't want you freaking out, I wasn't even supposed to call anyone yet. I'm being nice!"

"Okay, okay." Kurt slides down behind the desk and just sits on the floor with the phone to his ear. "So he's okay?"

"I swear there is not a single harmed hair on his Mohawked head."

Kurt can't help but wonder why everyone who isn't him seems to be having secret adventures at the moment.

"Santana?"

"Yes?"

"Has he gone to Quinn?"

"Why would you think that?" she asks. Kurt does not miss the fact that that isn't a 'no'.

"Because." He takes a deep breath. Kurt has no idea why Santana of all people is the one who he finally intends to tell, but six months is too long, and he's so relieved that Puck is okay. "I know how he felt now. He always wanted Quinn, but he wanted her to be happy, and he wanted that more."

Kurt wishes now more than ever that he had spoken to Puck more over the past few months. They could have helped each other. But he didn't.

"He made his decision, Santana, and she made hers. Nothing's changed. You can't let him do this to her."

It's strange that when this topic was first discussed, in his parents' front yard, with Puck and Santana and Blaine and a cigar, Kurt thought that he was like Quinn. Kurt thought that he would always choose Tobias, and that he would have to break Blaine's heart. He always thought that Quinn had chosen her Soul Mate. But what if she hadn't? What if Puck had pushed her too? Kurt had never thought of it that way before. Now it was all he could think of.

"Kurt, I need you to keep it together," Santana says. "I'm going to tell you something and everyone's going to kill me and I don't even care because I told them all this was a dumb idea but whatever. I'm not with Puck anymore. He's not even in America anymore."

"What?"

"He's on an airplane headed to France. With Quinn."

Kurt doesn't know what to say.

"How?"

"He told her that he loves her. She left her boyfriend. That's it."

"I don't understand."

"There's more but I really can't tell you that yet. But all you need to know is that Quinn and Puck are okay. They're together."

"Excuse me?" Kurt didn't even hear anyone enter the shop.

"I have to go," he tells Santana. He hangs up and stands in a daze. Quinn and Puck are together. Quinn and Puck are together. It should sound weird. It should sound wrong and strange but it doesn't. It just sounds right. He smiles. Quinn and Puck are together.

"How can I help you?" he asks the man standing on the other side of the desk.

"I have this whole list here of books I need to find." He's a beautiful young man, and Kurt can't help but become a little flustered as he takes the list and comes around to the front of the desk. They're all medical books.

"Med student?" Kurt asks.

"How could you tell?" the man jokes.

Kurt leads him around the store and finds every book on the list. They have a pleasant conversation and Kurt finds himself laughing at the man's jokes. He's not here though, he's not thinking about med books or this young man or anything else. He's only thinking about Puck and Quinn. They chose each other. He thinks briefly that he might be having a breakdown. It would explain a lot. Particularly it would explain why he's laughing at this man's jokes when he kind of feels a little bit like the world as he knows it is falling down around him because Puck and Quinn chose each other.

He takes the huge pile of books over to the desk and begins scanning them through, continuing his conversation with the young man as he does so. The man is just passing over his credit card when the door bangs open.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure I shouldn't wait here?" Richard asks as Janice drives far too quickly down the final street towards the bookstore.<p>

"I want you to come with me," Blaine says.

As soon as they left Anne's house Blaine called Puck and Santana, and told them what she had said while Richard called Maria and did the same. It was almost done. Six months of Janice, Maria, Blaine, Richard, Santana, and Puck, searching for a myth. From the beginning it had been Blaine and Richard.

After Kurt had made it obvious that he didn't want to see Blaine anymore, Blaine had found Richard. He had intended to tell Richard that he didn't want to be with him, but Richard had told Blaine first. Richard had a family already. He had taken Blaine in though, Blaine had stayed with them for a long time and Richard had been the first person Blaine had told when Janice had come to him about the legend of the Matchmaker who abandoned the network. Talking to Anna had been Janice's idea, turning it into a book so that everyone would know had been Richard's idea. Blaine didn't mind if the world never knew, he still doesn't, he just wanted to know. He wanted to tell Puck, and he wanted Richard to know, and he wanted to tell Kurt. Richard and Janice made that possible.

"We'd have been good Soul Mates, wouldn't we?" Blaine asks.

Richard laughs. "I think we are good Soul Mates."

"I sure hope Maria and Kurt get along, or this could get very awkward," Janice jokes as the car screeches to a halt. They all jump out quickly but before they can run towards the bookstore, Richard grabs Blaine's arm and pulls him back.

"What if he still chooses Tobias?"

Blaine shrugs. "At least he'll know that it's a choice."

Richard lets go and they all run. The air fills Blaine's lungs and his legs burn and his eyes still burn from all of the tears he tried earlier.

Even if Kurt does choose Tobias, Blaine knows that he'll be happy.

* * *

><p>"Kurt!"<p>

"Blaine?" Kurt drops the customer's card and it clatters against the desk. "What are you doing here?" he asks. He's surprised to see Blaine here, in the place where they met. It feels like a lifetime has passed since then. The thing that surprises Kurt most though is how happy he is to see Blaine.

"Kurt, I need to talk to you."

"Sure," Kurt says, without hesitation. "Go and wait in the break room. I'll be in when I'm finished here."

Blaine looks confused but happy. He takes Janice and the man that Kurt has never seen before back into the break room with him.

"Sorry about that." Kurt smiles and picks the credit card up again. He looks down at it and something catches his eye. His stomach drops.

"Did he say your name was Kurt?" the man asks.

"Yes," Kurt says, staring at the card.

"What's your surname, Kurt?"

It takes a second for Kurt to answer him. That's all, just a second.

"Hudson. It's Kurt Hudson."

Tobias's face falls.

"Is everything okay?" Kurt asks.

"Yes, sorry, thought you were someone else." Kurt smiles and rings the purchase through.

Tobias is just about to leave when Kurt stops him.

"Are you new in town?"

"I just moved here last weekend."

"We should exchange numbers," Kurt says, making the decision before he can talk himself out of it. "I can help you out if you need anything."

One day, Kurt thinks as Tobias leaves the store, one day he will tell him the truth. Maybe Tobias will forgive him and maybe he won't. But he can't tell him now.

Kurt expects to immediately feel horrible about the lie, but he doesn't. He only feels this strange sort of freedom. He feels like laughing.

He thinks that he is probably still having that breakdown.

* * *

><p>By the time Kurt finally joins them in the break room Blaine has paced the floor so many times that Janice is starting to worry about holes in the carpet.<p>

Blaine's head snaps up as soon as the door opens and Kurt comes in looking incredibly dazed, and possibly like he's in shock.

"Kurt, I really need to tell you something-"

"Me first," Kurt says. He looks up and Blaine and this small smile comes over his face. "That man that I just served. Did you see him?"

"Yes," Blaine says, not sure exactly where this is going at all.

"He was Tobias Green."

Blaine is stunned. He can't tell Kurt now. He can't tell Kurt ever. He smiles anyway.

"Wow."

"I told him my name was Kurt Hudson." Kurt's hand flies to his mouth and he starts laughing.

"Why?"

Kurt shrugs. "It was the first name that came to mind."

"No." Blaine shakes his head. All of the hope he had five minutes ago is crashing down but none of it matters because Kurt found Tobias. He can be happy. "You should go to him, if you go now then you'll still catch him."

Kurt is crying now but still smiling, and he moves forward and takes Blaine's hands in his own.

"Don't you get it?" he asks. "I don't want to. I made my choice." And then Kurt finally says the words that Blaine has always longed to hear. "I chose you."

* * *

><p>When they reach the age of ten all children are visited by The Matchmaker.<p>

The Matchmaker takes the child's hand, looks deep into their eyes, and tells them a name.

One name.

Out of the many that they really see.

The name of one person who will love them above all others; one person whom they might live their lives with; one person they may marry and have children with; one person with whom they might buy a beautiful house, with a white picket-fence, and a people carrier so that they can drive the children to soccer games and dance recitals; one person that they could grow old with, who would care for them when they can no longer care for themselves; one person who would cry at their funeral, because they feel that they have no purpose in life higher than to love that other person.

All of this, an entire future laid out, at ten years old.

If it is the one they choose.


End file.
